Question about my broody hen

[Pullet Press]

UPDATE: We found the escaped chick. She seems fine, just a little chilled. She dug under the broody pretty quickly.

 

[Mrs. K]

hurray!

Love watching mine, the hen with the chicks following her, seeing what she digs up, a natural chicken society.

 

[Pullet Press]

Oh, quick question: is it normal for my broody to freak out and peck her chicks if I move her to a different nesting box? She doesn't peck them when she's settled.

 

[Battlepants]

Oh, quick question: is it normal for my broody to freak out and peck her chicks if I move her to a different nesting box? She doesn't peck them when she's settled.

My momma hen occasionally pecks her chicks out of panic and I suspect this is what is happening here with yours. Chicken logic: "Stressful situation, I saw movement, PECK!"

Fortunately, no injuries have come from this. Just the occasional upset chick that immediately starts following her around again.

Any particular reason you need to move them and can't just let them exist in the current nest box?

 

[Pullet Press]

My momma hen occasionally pecks her chicks out of panic and I suspect this is what is happening here with yours. Chicken logic: "Stressful situation, I saw movement, PECK!"

Fortunately, no injuries have come from this. Just the occasional upset chick that immediately starts following her around again.

Any particular reason you need to move them and can't just let them exist in the current nest box?

Her nest box is on the second story of their coop, and the ramp up to the top is too steep (plus the hens like laying eggs in her nest box. When the other hens try to lay an egg, the broody gets angry and one chick has escaped her pen several times), and I have a ground-level coop that would work.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Okay, I just put the chicks in with my hen (I purchased them earlier today).
I put them under her and she pecked them a little. The chicks are now under her and she only pecks them if they stick their heads out. If that's not normal, let me know.
So far, so good, idk, tho.

She might be telling them to go back under.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Oh, quick question: is it normal for my broody to freak out and peck her chicks if I move her to a different nesting box? She doesn't peck them when she's settled.

I wouldn’t give the chicks back right away when you move her to her new nest. She might flap a bit and hurt the chicks. Also, moving her is risky, so be sure you have that planned out and don’t plan on doing it again. (if possible)

 

[Pullet Press]

Update on the broody and her chicks: They're all doing great. She hasn't lost a single chick and is taking good care of them.

 

[Pullet Press]

Update: The broody seems to have weaned her chicks from her about a week ago. This morning when I went to feed my flock, I found that two chicks were missing. I found a wing of one of the chicks (minus the chick) on the roof of their coop and and a squashed chick in the coop. I don't think that a predator got either of them, meaning that the flock was most likely to blame, sadly.

 

[Battlepants]

The squashed chick, I could see this happening from overcrowding or someone jumping down from a roost bar onto a chick. As for the overcrowding, panicked birds can crowd into a corner and the one furthest in the corner takes all the force of this action. Rounding out corners can help with this if this was the situation.

As for finding just the wing and no chick, that couldn't have been the flock IMO. Chickens just don't eat like this. This feels more like the actions of a racoon or a cat.