Is it possible for a hen to "overfeed" her chicks to a dangerous level? I have one hen that seems to be overfeeding her one youngest chick to the point there is NO NECK left and the chick is unable to roll over or sit up. I'm worried that she is going to aspirate her own chick? And on the other hand she is not feeding the last hatchling at all?? What can be the issue here?? Advice would be appreciated. I've had about 10 clutches total and I've never come across this matter yet??

I don't beleive it is if the food is solid enough, but yet again, stranger things have happened.

I've had chicks fed really well to the point of inability to move, but i've never had one over fed.

 

Is there a large gap between the ages of the chicks? Sometimes a hen will ignore a young chick over the louder calls of older babies.

I agree on both points with the above post. Older chicks are nosier and more demanding when it comes to food. I have seen chicks with crops that stay about the same fullness all day - meaning parents regularly 'top them up' so they are never empty or full. Then i have seen one chick with a saggy empty crop in the morning when i put in soft food, then 20 mins later it is so full the chick is just unable to move. Looks happy however

 

Again the problem with new chicks is they are not demanding enough, so the well meaning parents can feed whoever they think is calling for food and assume the rest arent hungry. In this case you can try hand feeding the chick at regular intervals, always returning it to the nest after a feed until it is a few days old and crying loud enough.

 

Or you could move the young chick to a nest with one or two similarly young birds so they make around the same noise and all get fed. Or move the older chicks and leave the younger. Its basically up to you how you shuffle them around, but birds of the same age get fed more evenly.

I don't beleive it is if the food is solid enough, but yet again, stranger things have happened.

I've had chicks fed really well to the point of inability to move, but i've never had one over fed.

 

Is there a large gap between the ages of the chicks? Sometimes a hen will ignore a young chick over the louder calls of older babies.

 

The oldest chick in the clutch was born on Feb. 25th and the youngest was just born this morning. There were 7 eggs, 1 infertile, 1 died, and there are 5 chicks in the nest. The one that is "overfed" was born on Mar. 1st, the one that died was born on Mar 3rd and the one she is not feeding was born today Mar 5th.

Give it time She should notice it if it's only a newborn.

i wouldn't worry too much about over feeding, but underfeeding is a problem.

I have an article on here to a mothers crop milk substitute if she's not fed it by this evening.

thanks libby, I'll try that if I need to. I also have another hen with chicks... if she doesn't feed I'll try to see if the other hen will feed it ... ? fostering and swapping chicks has been a life saver for me... a wonderful lesson learned on here. )