Please help! Mama hen killed the newest chick!

[momo9]

Hello,
I have a bantam hen (I got it from a school, that's all they knew about it, I'm not sure what type of bantam) who has been sitting on eggs for a month now. Last week Sunday, we found 2 beautiful little chicks, and she's been taking very good care of them. However, yesterday a new chick hatched. She seemed a bit harsh on it, kept pecking it if it popped out of her feathers. I didn't realize how harsh... today when I got home I found the poor little chickie had been pecked to death. This little chick was a RRR, and looked different from the other 2. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with it.

She's still sitting on several eggs, and I hear peeping from them. She won't leave the eggs for long (She gets up and shows the other 2 how to scratch a couple of times/day). She's very protective of the first 2 chicks as well as the eggs. I was very surprised at her behavior toward this chick. I'm worried about the others, especially as they may hatch while I'm at work or over night. Should I build a brooder and take them as soon as they hatch? Should I give her another chance? She's done a wonderful job with the first 2. I wondered if she thought it was sick because they other 2 are so big now and it was so little?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!!


(The pic shows mama with the older 2 chicks and the newly hatched chick under her wing--just hours out of the egg)

 

[ticker9400]

I dont know either maybe someone will answer soon... I will keep my fingers crossed though

 

[bock]

Hmm , first of all why are some of the chicks so much older? They seem like they are ready to leave the nest. So maybe she killed it because she didn't have time for it to get strong enough to leave the nest.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i wouldn't take a chance. Pull the other eggs out and incubate them yourself. The hen needs to be concentrating on her chicks.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I've never had a broody, but those chicks are over a week old, with the wing feathers in. The eggs were not set all together under her so they would develop/hatch at the same time. I'd take the rest of the eggs from her and hatch them myself and let her concentrate on the chicks she has now.

 

[momo9]

The Mama hen got broody after we forgot to collect the eggs for 2 days.... We have 5 hens (3 RRR's and 1 more unidentified bantam) -and a roo- and the other hens would displace her to lay for a week or 2 after she started sitting, so that's why they are so staggered in age. She's sitting on about 10 eggs. I'm worried about trying to incubate myself, because I'm not sure the ages of the eggs, and I don't want to harm them myself. My instinct today was to take all her eggs but then I was worried I would do more harm than good, and I've never hatched eggs before..... Also, she totally freaks out and pecks my hands if I try to touch her babies or her eggs. (And this is a hen who has flown up onto my shoulder, and was very gentle).