Something eating the skin from baby chicks' heads!

[centrarchid]

Pen up that bigger chick. Syndrome will likely stop. Otherwise consider hen brooding affected chicks.

 

[Impress]

I have had this happen before, and it was the Mother who was doing it. At night she would attack them mercilessly, it was like she thought they were the enemies to her chicks and she had to do away with them. She scalped 3 of her 6.

 

[FireTigeris]

that too- good thought.

Good luck.

 

[mkcolls]

I thought Mama hen first. We lost the first chicks hatched by two different first time broody hens. They were both pecked through the head.

Can you post a picture?

 

[zazouse]

I have had broody hens scalp other hens chicks when they got to close while the hens were still sitting, once all the broodies were done hatching their eggs everything was fine.

 

[roostersandhens]

too weird!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Broody hens are very poor at simple math and are unable to correlate how many chicks she hatched or should hatch from the number of eggs she hovered. So a broody will usually (notice I said usually) accept chicks that are not her own, as long as they are smaller (younger) than her own chicks. This is especially true if she didn't see her own chicks before you gave the new ones to her. Then sometimes she will kill all of her own chicks if they are not the same color or the color she thinks they should be.