Broody hen and her chicks

[desertlady]

My first broody hen a Buff orphington is so dumb that she will sit on the for a while and then eat them one by one ! aurrrggg! I have a white silkie and she is now sitting on 18 eggs! (due Oct3rd) I will have to seperate them soon or the others will kill them !

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

I had not idea that the hens would kill the chicks. WHy not take them away and put them in a box with a light bulb? I have chicks in a brooder that's in the chicken yard. The hens are constantly gathered about to get a look at them-never thought they might hurt them!

sorry to not get back to this a little sooner. i prefer to let my broody hens hatch their own if they are willing. it saves the electricity and the possibility that you could burn down the house from the dust the chicks can cause over time that collects on the light.

yes, chickens are cannibals and the other hens will try to kill or drag out the chick as it is hatching. i usually keep momma and her brood separated from the flock by putting her into a large dog crate (i keep mostly bantams so these are large enough for them). this time i didn't get to move her and the eggs over to the plastic crate before she started hatching them so i had her in a metal dog crate that the bars were too wide and some of the chicks might have rolled or crawled out from under momma to be snatched through the bars by a passing hen. if momma feels that there is something wrong with the chick she might try to kill it, this might be the first time if the hen has been one of the culprits. i didn't give it much thought till i found 2 killed in one day. i work during the daytime so i can't be hovering over a broody hen or the eggs will never hatch! (sort of like hovering over the incubator when i have that going-just have to walk away and let nature take her course) :/

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hens have been hatching and raising chicks with the flock for thousands of years. They are not extinct yet.

You are talking about living animals. About anything can happen but there is a lot of difference in what can possibly happen and what absolutely will happen. It is possible that another hen will try to kill a chick, especially if it as alone and unprotected. It is possible and it does happen. But what happens with my flock is that the mother hen protects her chicks. In the first place, most of the other grown chickens pretty much ignore the chicks anyway unless that chick goes into the hen's private space. Occasionally one will show an interest in the chicks, but Mama is practically always very protective and will get really violent in protecting her babies. Some broodies are not as protective as others, but most have such a bad attitude that the other hens quickly learn to give her room.

Yes, bad things can happen, but I let my broodies hatch chicks with the flock. I let my broodies raise their chicks with the flock. My last broody hatched 11 chicks with the flock. She is raising them with the flock. The will be three weeks old tomorrow and all 11 are still alive and doing well.

A couple of years ago I lost a chick to other chickens. A chick about a week old got separated from Mama and got into a pen of 8 week olds. Mama could not get to the chick to protect it and the 8 week olds killed it. I'm fully aware that bad things can happen.

But I don't want people to think that bad things will happen each and every time without fail in every flock in the world if you let Mama rasie them with the flock because that simply is not the case. Something bad can possibly happen, but it usually doesn't.

Maybe this will help explain it. Several times I have seen chicks about 2 weeks old leave Mama's protection and stand next to the big hens with all of them eating out of the feeder. Occasionally the older hens will ignore the chick, at least for a while. But usually one of the adult hens will peck that chick to remind it that it is bad flock mannerts for a socially inferior to eat with its better. That chick runs back to Mama as fast as its little legs can carry it, flapping its wings and peeping indignantly. Mama generally ignores all this. But once I saw a hen take off after that chick. In that case Mama got very upset and taught that hen to not bother her baby.

Chickens are flock animals. They have developed ways to live together and raise their families together. Bad things can happen, but in my experience they usually don't.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Hens have been hatching and raising chicks with the flock for thousands of years. They are not extinct yet.

You are talking about living animals. About anything can happen but there is a lot of difference in what can possibly happen and what absolutely will happen. It is possible that another hen will try to kill a chick, especially if it as alone and unprotected. It is possible and it does happen. But what happens with my flock is that the mother hen protects her chicks. In the first place, most of the other grown chickens pretty much ignore the chicks anyway unless that chick goes into the hen's private space. Occasionally one will show an interest in the chicks, but Mama is practically always very protective and will get really violent in protecting her babies. Some broodies are not as protective as others, but most have such a bad attitude that the other hens quickly learn to give her room.

Yes, bad things can happen, but I let my broodies hatch chicks with the flock. I let my broodies raise their chicks with the flock. My last broody hatched 11 chicks with the flock. She is raising them with the flock. The will be three weeks old tomorrow and all 11 are still alive and doing well.

A couple of years ago I lost a chick to other chickens. A chick about a week old got separated from Mama and got into a pen of 8 week olds. Mama could not get to the chick to protect it and the 8 week olds killed it. I'm fully aware that bad things can happen.

But I don't want people to think that bad things will happen each and every time without fail in every flock in the world if you let Mama rasie them with the flock because that simply is not the case. Something bad can possibly happen, but it usually doesn't.

Maybe this will help explain it. Several times I have seen chicks about 2 weeks old leave Mama's protection and stand next to the big hens with all of them eating out of the feeder. Occasionally the older hens will ignore the chick, at least for a while. But usually one of the adult hens will peck that chick to remind it that it is bad flock mannerts for a socially inferior to eat with its better. That chick runs back to Mama as fast as its little legs can carry it, flapping its wings and peeping indignantly. Mama generally ignores all this. But once I saw a hen take off after that chick. In that case Mama got very upset and taught that hen to not bother her baby.

Chickens are flock animals. They have developed ways to live together and raise their families together. Bad things can happen, but in my experience they usually don't.

x2

Very nicely written.

 

[amandacv86]

I just have to say those are super cute little chicks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just took this photo. The broody hen is the one with the sunlight on her tail. You can sort of see that some of the chicks are intermingled some with the rest of the flock and the rest of the flock are not going after them to kill them. I can only see six of the chicks in this photo. The other five are around in the general area, hidden behind other chickens.

I'm not saying there is no risk. I'm saying with a normal broody in a normal flock, there is not much risk to the chicks. I personally prefer the risks from a broody raising chicks with the flock to the risks of trying to integrate the broody and the chicks later.

 

[catjac1975]

Nice looking hen and chicks!

 

[MuranoFarms]

Awwww, so cute!