The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: bloomer on May 28, 2014, 12:30:41 pm
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over the last 2 days Mrs Broody 2 has hatched 4 babies, today 1 was dead in the nest >:(
mum is a first timer and psychotic if you go in to check on her and babies, but i haven't seen her take them to food or water yet...
trying to avoid removing them if i can though...
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I had a hen that went mental if you went anywhere near her and in the end she got so bad she ran all over the chicks if we went anywhere near the hut. She injured one of the chick so we took them away and gave them to another broody. They were 3 days old by this time and settled well with their new mum. Your hen might settle and might have fed the chicks but you have not seen this. All hens react differently. If you think she may kill the chicks you may have to remove them, l dont know your hen so cant advise the best thing to do. Our hen got over the loss of her chicks and has since made the best mum ever, now sitting on 7 turkey eggs. Had 2 lots of chicks last year. Good luck
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I've known this too - a first year hen that was very aggressive and trampled her chicks. After the third one was squashed I took chicks off her. Hopefully yours will calm down :-\
I like to leave them alone, but I do like to see them take the chicks to food and water soonish. This is more key for me as mine are often from the incubator, so already a day or two old when I put them under the hen. My most recent hen was still sitting on the chicks the afternoon after introduction night before, so I took her off... There's a moment of confusion as I scooped the chicks after her, but within a minute the whole lot were pecking away.
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She might have just stood on it accidentally? My top broody hatched five from eight last year (and two of the others were infertile) but lost one and I think she just stood on it. She's just hatched goslings this year and one of the benefits is they're much more robust (although much more rubbish at hatching) - as well as shouting very loudly when stood on.
Could you give her something super tasty to eat and see whether she brings the little ones with her? I love to see the broodies come out of their stupor and start eating normally again but mine do try and bring the little ones too.
H