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Hen Attacking Chick


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I found a 2 week old chick on the floor with a bleeding head and after checking noticed the hen had laid an egg, I have moved her over to another breeding cabinet and left father to finish raising the chicks

my question is she has layed another egg in the cage breeding box I moved her to .... should I take her egg away or let her sit on it alone?

thanks

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let her be.... if she contuines attacking the new chick sadly this has happened to me and 2 chicks died ad the other one grew up and died so the chick must be sick or the hen is stressed just let her do what she needs to do sadly this is the only thing that worked for me.

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Hi I would let her relay and you could foster her eggs to another pair if you have any but hens are capable of rearing young on their own.

But be mindful of what she did to her last chick.

Cheers Jenny

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How old are other chicks? Was the attacked chick the youngest of clutch? If so I would put chicks on floor off breeding cage with Dad left to feed them and let mum have sole access to nest box. Add an ice cream container upside down e.g. cut out so chicks could hide under it. If she has laid one new egg and you remove her from Dad, her next eggs may not be fertile.

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hey thanks, the chicks are 3 weeks old she only attached the middle one out of the 3 not the youngest... I decided to move her alone and she is sitting on another egg she laid... first I put to another hen.... might do the same with the second egg and stop her sitting as she's alone and dont like her feeding herself and sitting on eggs.

I tried putting all chick on the floor in ice cream container but the father wasnt paying them attention, so put chicks back in nestbox....

did I do the right thing who knows... should turn out okay....

has anyone had a hen sit on eggs alone?????

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Hi, if chicks are that old I'd say she decided to start round 2. Dad should finish weaning chicks on his own. Mum could sit on eggs on her own but they may not be fertile if she lays any more. If you don't want her to have second round you could foster both her eggs to the other hen. (See if you can mark eggs so you know which are the foster eggs.) I'd then remove nest box from Mum's cage to discourage her from laying or sitting for nothing. See how you go.

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does she look like she had the strength for another round alone? plus what if she attacked the next lot of chicks? I've had one hen raise chicks alone and made sure she had extra soft foods and millet in the box to nibble on as they don't like to move out of the box for long. These eggs have very chance of being fertile, as one mating can fertilise a whole clutch.

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Yeah I'll let her finish laying then foster the eggs, she is in great condition.... but dont want to leave her alone on eggs.. or I may try put her back and chicks on the floor on the weekend where I can monitor them all day and see whether father is feeding them and hen can sit on the eggs... be one happy family LOL

cheers guys

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