Non Brooding hen has killed 3 hatched chicks.

[Jemezhens]

Hi! I have 2 nesting hens, one is in the hen house, the other took up nesting in an old rabbit hutch. Last week when the eggs in the hen house started hatching (one per day) they would go completely missing by the next day. I thought for sure it was a bull snake or even a ground squirle (we are in extreme drought) Sadly, I caught my salmon faverolle, who is an egg donor but not the brooding hen, in the act She was eating a chick. The hen in the rabbit hutch has hatched 4 chicks since Sunday and I am worried to let her and her chicks out. Here is my question: if it were your coop, would you get rid of the cannibal or would you prevent the mom from doing what is natural and take her chicks outside. Or would you let nature take its course and hope the faverolle won't do it again? Please help!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's perfectly normal for other birds to kill chicks. They don't understand what they are, they are just something foreign, and apparently delicious. It's the main reason I always tell people to separate out the broody hen and her chicks for the first week or two until the chicks are strong enough to escape other birds.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... I caught my salmon faverolle... eating a chick....

What are you feeding?

 

[aart]

I would isolate the chick eater, at least for now.

 

[RWise]

What aart said! And I would not let this hen set again, she should be protecting those babies!
I would consider re-homing the guilty hen to someone that will not be raising chicks.

I do not consider it normal for a hen (or rooster) to kill and eat chicks! Normal for the mother to eat a dead one, yes. My broodies take their hatch into the flock at 2-3 days old, never had this issue, my rooster will even feed the chicks, and some of the other hens will also..