Will a hen with chicks kill another hen's chicks

[fuzidragonbunnie]

Hello,

We have some hens who are nesting and one of them hatched two babies. I noticed a couple of days ago that our second nesting hen had a baby that was newly hatched from an egg. She wasn't taking the little one under her wing, but watching it in front of her in the nest, instead. When I left the nursery area, the other hen (with the two babies) was looking into the nest with a great deal of interest. The next morning I found the new baby dead. Couldn't tell how it died, though.

If anyone could direct me to some info on this, it would be helpful. We found out, sadly (new chicken farmers) that the other hens will kill any babies that their mama isn't fiercely protecting.

Thanks!

 

[RAWR]

im sorry about that

how did the body look when u found it?

 

[bock]

That is so sad

. I am very sorry for you, the hen, and those poor chickies.

 

[12henfun]

awww so sorry.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Who told you this?

Based on your description, i would wonder if maybe there was something wrong with the chick that the mother somehow sensed and/or that the baby died from neglect rather than being attacked.

My hens that hatched together shared motherly duties entirely and both protected their chicks fiercely. The other hens did not bother the babies at all. This behavior may vary a lot by breed. I don't know.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know this must be very disappointing.

 

[JestersEye]

I had a hen that hatched a chick in March and the other chickens accepted it just fine. The mother hen was very protective so she never let the other birds come too close, but they were more interested in battling with the mama since she had been the head hen before she went broody. They never seemed very interested in her chick, even though there were no other chicks in the flock at the time. The rooster seemed mildly interested in the chick, but he also seemed to act somewhat protective and nurturing toward his offspring. I suppose some chickens might act aggressively toward any "newcomers" but typically the mother hen is supposed to be protective enough to enforce their chicks' acceptance, at least they're big enough to fend for themselves.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

The hen who wasn't mothering her chick would have more likely been the cause of her chicks death. I think you would have noticed peck marks on the chick if the other mother had caused its death. Sorry you lost your chick!

 

[EweSheep]

Cambriagardner, not always you will find peck marks on a chick would be the cause of death. One blow to the head can finish a chick or permantely damage the chick that it can not move despite of the best intentions of the hen or any other hens.

I lost a few chicks that just found uncoucious or dead, no peck mark after the fact one of the Amerc. hen (not her own) would unmercifully killed the chick for "intruding" her space when she went broody.

If it is not their chick when they are not that far into broodiness, such as a week or two into broodiness, they will kill. When they get to the third week up to two months, they did well and accept any kind of chicks that came along that they got when I introduced them to the Ideal Spitzhauben chicks I had last year. They were the best broody Orp sisters until one sis died two weeks ago of untimely death probably from a feral cat or coon. Now I have only one. I sure do miss her!

 

[yard]

sorry about the loss of ur hen how is the other hen coping?
With regard to hens killing chicks: I introduced two baby chicks to two adult hens and being new to raising hens I left them alone with the hens when I returned about 20mins later one of the chicks had hardly any feathers left on her back and it also had lots of pecking marks on its back with a lot of blood!!! Since then I am keeping the chicks apart until they grow stronger.

 

[fuzidragonbunnie]

As far as the question-who told me that the other hens (not nesting) would hurt or kill the chicks, I heard it from a couple of people-including my neighbor who has chickens. I don't know if this applies to all breeds or just some. We have found a few dead chicks both in the nest with the mama and outside of the nest away from the mama-this was before we decided to isolate the nesting moms from the rest of the brood with a chicken wire fence.