welsummer hen hatching chicks

[bkvail]

When my Welsummer hen got broody, I let her sit on 4 eggs - one hatched today and I found the peeping chick in the opposite corner of the nest than the hen. I went to pop it under her, and she pecked at it! So, I distracted her with food and put it under her at the back. It seems to have worked. Is that normal for her to be aggressive to her own chick though? She has 3 more to go, hope they all hatch!

I don't think she's ever hatched a clutch before - she is I'm guessing 2 years old? I've had her a year and she didn't hatch any last year that I know of (got her from a breeder).

 

[peckndirt]

She was most likely pecking at you to make you drop it.If the chick is fine tomorrow I'd leave them with her. Some hens are bad mothers but most are just being protective.Good Luck on the hatch.

 

[patyrdz]

Quote:
Agreed! Good luck!!

 

[bkvail]

I cannot even begin to tell you how upset I am. She killed it.

She was not pecking at my hands, she was pecking at the chick well after my hand was out of the nesting area. I came back later to see if others had hatched and the chicks head had been pecked down to skull eyeballs. I was bawling and my hubby and youngest son kept telling me ''it's just a chick''. I said, ya, but it's MOTHER KILLED IT! Nature is so cruel sometimes ::sniff::

I think it was in the corner trying to get away from her - and I put it back where she could reach it. I should have just put it in the brooder :*( I wanted her to raise her own chicks though :*(

 

[W.CharltonChickens]

So sorry for your loss...

 

[bkvail]

well, second chick hatched and she killed that one as well.

By hatching/incubating chicks artificially, and not letting hens raise their own chicks, do we ruin the natural ability of hens to raise their own? I'd almost bet that Mary was an incubator chick herself.......

 

[btrent94]

so sry to hear than your hen was such a terrible mother .. it really is all our faults though by not letting hens do their thing

 

[bkvail]

is it a common experience for hen's to kill their chicks as they hatch then?

 

[JennsPeeps]

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It really depends. Some breeds are good mothers (sillkies, cochins) and others aren't as great. Within every breed there are bad mothers. Since she killed 2 chicks already, I'd take the other 2 chicks from her the second they hatch, and not allow her to go broody again.

 

[bkvail]

Quote:
It really depends. Some breeds are good mothers (sillkies, cochins) and others aren't as great. Within every breed there are bad mothers. Since she killed 2 chicks already, I'd take the other 2 chicks from her the second they hatch, and not allow her to go broody again.

how do you keep them from going broody?