Unexpected reaction from broody silkie after sitting and hatching....

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

We have a flock of 6 bantam hens, including a 3 year old silkie, Sylvie who we have had since point of lay. She has always been a broody girl, sort of one week on one week off give or take, and lays pretty much every day when not brooding. We decided to let her adopt sine hatching eggs we bought and gave her on 01.03.20. We had her in a huge cage in the kitchen all kitted out for her. She sat and looked after them as we expected her to. We checked the eggs regularly with a candling torch and most seemed well.

On the 21st the first egg hatched, we heard a commotion from the living room and rushed in. She was attacking the newborn and throwing it round the cage! Mortified, we rescued it but it died in a short time. We quickly rushed to get a heatlamp and set up another cage ready to take more newborns off her! We now have 5 5 week old chicks happy and healthy!

Has anyone else ever heard of this? especially with a silkie who I know make the best mothers!

 

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

Cute

 

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

 

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

 

[Shadrach]

We have a flock of 6 bantam hens, including a 3 year old silkie, Sylvie who we have had since point of lay. She has always been a broody girl, sort of one week on one week off give or take, and lays pretty much every day when not brooding. We decided to let her adopt sine hatching eggs we bought and gave her on 01.03.20. We had her in a huge cage in the kitchen all kitted out for her. She sat and looked after them as we expected her to. We checked the eggs regularly with a candling torch and most seemed well.

On the 21st the first egg hatched, we heard a commotion from the living room and rushed in. She was attacking the newborn and throwing it round the cage! Mortified, we rescued it but it died in a short time. We quickly rushed to get a headlamp and set up another cage ready to take more newborns off her! We now have 5 5 week old chicks happy and healthy!

Has anyone else ever heard of this? especially with a silkie who I know make the best mothers!

Yes, it isn't that uncommon. I've had two baby killers here. Both did so much damage to their chicks that I had to put them out of their misery.
I still have one of the baby killers. She's great at sitting; gets off the nest every day and spends a good time outside eatinng drinking pooping and dust bathing, perfect broody behaviour. When the chicks hatch she turns into a psychopath. I can't see it as something deliberate and I just don't let her sit and hatch. The other baby killer died a couple of years ago.

 

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

We thought it may be because the babies arent silkies. We have 2 lavender araucanas, 2 buff wyandottes and a silver sablepoot. It was a sablepoot that she killed