Overall confused, broody hen, day 25, killing chicks?

[carlyt]

Almost the same thing happened to me. Some hens just aren’t good moms and I have had a hen that attempted to eat the eggs(with chicks inside. They died odvi) and successfully killed the ones that hatched. I had to take away all the eggs that were still alive and put them in an incubator, they all hatched besides for a few and then I raised them in a brooder.

For what I think your situation is:

I would try to not have hen #2 in there and try and break her. Leave the eggs under the good mother.

Other things to note:

All hens can go broody.

Two hens at the same time CAN work (in fact, I had two and they were wonderful mothers together. They would take turns caring for the chicks and teaching and stuff.)

Day 25 eggs probably won’t hatch. BUT since they were under a broody hen you may be wrong about the day because it takes a few days to collect. I have had eggs that I thought were 21 days old turn out to be 16 days old, you never know unless you take extra care for numbering them and stuff.

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the thoughts.

 

[carlyt]

I agree, it sounds like she's was stressed by the changes toward the end of brooding. If I have to move a broody I try to do it within the first week or so of brooding. After day 19 it's completely hands off until the hen comes off the nest on her own.

That said, it sounds like she may just not be a good mother. Not all hens are. Personally, with 3 other hens gone broody, I would not let her hatch. I have a dog crate with a wire bottom that I use as a broody buster. Most of my hens just need a couple of days in there to come out of it. My last one to go broody was particularly stubborn and I had to move the crate out of the coop and into the run so that she couldn't even see her preferred nest.

I will definitely learn from this experience and make changes for the next batch. I will definitely try to break the bad broody killer hen.

 

[Awilliams041985]

I have a hen that if her nest is moved at all she will immediately stop sitting and start another nest. But I’ve found that if you leave her alone in the box of her choice until one egg is completely hatched I can move her and her nest to a tote in my mud room. She now has 6 peeps to call her own! I’ve had this hen for 6 years and she hasn’t laid an egg in a year that I’m aware of and has never went broody until this year. She is an amazing mom and we love watching her with them. But moving her stressed her out and she did completely abandon her first nest.

 

[B_Chickle01]

My 1st hen went broody 7 out of 10 eggs hatched, perfect no issues. Shortly after, the Hen#2 went broody (I thought it would be as easy as the first..)
Day 19 I moved the Tupperware nesting box into a dog kennel for lock down. I wanted them on a flat surface when they hatched (as per fb advice) so the evening of Day 20 I took away the tupperware and had her eggs on the ground (just like Hen#1). Came out the next morning and there was a dead bloody chick in the corner of the kennel and she was off the eggs pacing and acting very distressed, I opened up the kennel to check it out and she bolted. The eggs were cold. I had to run to work so I couldn't mess around so I left the door open thinking she would come back but when I came home she was in a nesting box sitting on different eggs. I moved her back to kennel but this time I added back in the tupperwear. She was happy to sit on the eggs.
Day 24 I went out after work and she was still on the eggs but there was a dead chick bloody in front of her. Is that evidence to say she's killing them?
Day 25 (today) I went out and she was pacing so I just opened the door and let her out thinking the eggs were dead. One had a hole and smelled rotten. I picked up the eggs and was going to toss them all on the ground. I threw one and the chick was still alive... I put the eggs back in the box and got Broody Hen#3 to sit on the 4 eggs that were left..

Hen#3 and Hen#4 were sitting on like 20+ eggs in the same nesting box, so I pulled #3 out to sit on the Day 25 eggs... I am just not sure. I'm guessing these day 25 eggs wont hatch and ill end up putting her back with Hen#4. But also... WTH is going on with HEN#2 (the killer)..

This is my first time hatching and having broody hens, and I am quite overwhelmed. I also didn't think Leghorns were supposed to go broody..!!

Unless other chickens were able to access her and her nest, then yes, it’s 100% safe to say she did, but based off the way she was acting, it seems like she could possibly be the culprit. It’s not uncommon, especially for first-time broody hens, to kill a chick that hatches or is mid-hatching because they get spooked. They’re used to sitting on an egg; suddenly there’s a little fuzzy chick looking at them. They could mistake it as a potential threat to the nest. I unfortunately learned this the hard way my first time having broody hens when my Sebright killed 2 of her babies. Much like people, some hens are just terrible mothers.