[themagicaltoad1]

4 out of 6 eggs hatched today.  They were under 3 different broodies, when I went to check on them I found each of the hens had attacked the chicks and thrown them out of the nest.  One appears to be injured and I now have them in a box in my airing cupboard.  Can anyone give me some advice.  Why are the hens behaving like this and what can I do for the chicks.  I don't have a heat lamp.

[Hayley'sHens]

Can you get hold of a heat lamp?  No sure what you can do for them without one to be honest but im sure someone with more expereince will be along (hopefully very soon) and help you more than i can.

I do hope all the chicks are going to be ok tho
 

[Aunt Sally]

Did the 3 broodies each have their own accommodation and run ?

[poppies]

Hi  you can use an office type lamp with a 100 watt bulb over a box  with a piece of towelling in the bottom for them to grip onto, just make sure you have it at the right hight -ie they are not huddled  or spread right out too far,  you can get these quite  cheap at b&q.

[mad chicken]

Yep as get a nice heat source and you can even keep them in a card board box. Each hen may have just been protecting their own off spring?

[lisa80]

As a stop gap an office lamp over a small cardboard box will do ,we use kitchen roll for the first few days and put chick crumb and water in jam jar lids  :)you will soon know if they are cold as they can make alot of noise

[themagicaltoad1]

Well I've just got home from work and OH has been handling the crisis at home all day. The chickens had been separated into their own broody coops and had been tenderly looking after their eggs for the past 3 weeks. When I checked on them this morning one of the chicks had started to break out, as soon as she saw it mum attacked the egg like a mad thing so I hastily tucked it under her and she settled down. When OH looked in on them later one was throwing a chick about, another had thrown a chick right out of the coop onto the ground and the 3rd was savagely attacking another chick. Why have they behaved like this? I can't believe all 3 have rejected their chicks. The one that had been injured seems to be fine now and they're all eating and drinking. Thanks for the helpful advice, we have them under an office lamp in a box at the minute. This is not how I thought things were going to be! I'll post some pics in a little while.

[TeaPots]

oh poor you. I cant fink of anything to say.

are/were all 3 broodies adjacent to each other? maybe for whatever reason they didnt feel safe (could a cat or anything have scared them?). Did you seperate them early in their broodiness? or after chicks had hatched?

Sadly it IS common for a chook to not be a natural mum, and attack her chicks, but not so common that it would affect all 3 mums. They must have been affected by some external reason...my first gueass is as I say, that they had been scared by something.

How sad, heartbreaking to see, but nature is cruel, please dont love your ladies any less coz of their actions....for whatever reason they thought they were doing the right thing.

[themagicaltoad1]

They're all fast asleep. Pingu, Bubbles, Sage and Onion. They're silkie x legbar, God knows what sex they are, any ideas?

[TeaPots]

they are gorgeous 

erm....sorry to sound critical......the towel should be flat (they could snuggle under the roll' and suffocate) and the water pot it too deep...they can drowm. I put marbles or pebbles int the water pot so it is not deep, or you can use a jamjar lid. The dish you are using will be ok when they are a week or so old, but there is serious risk of them falling asleep with their head in the water and drown.

I use a cardboard box too for the first week, with a reading light angled over them. After a week, they get a much bigger box, with newspaper and woodshavings, and a feeder and mini drinker down one end. they venture away from the light bulb to eat and drink, then snuggle back under it. if they snuggle in a tight heap, and/or peep loudly in complaint, they are cold, so position the bulb a bit lower (gradually raising it as they get older). If they are away from the light, it is probably too low down and hot, so raise it a bit.

they will let you know as they get too hot or cold or hungry or thirsty, and you will soon see their new feathers and realise everything is worthwhile in approx 5-6 weeks, as the bulb gradually gets raised higher and higher, until off, they can try being out in a secure little run of their own 

[themagicaltoad1]

Don't be fooled by the size of the pot there's only about 1/4 inch of water in it, it looks deeper than it is. This box was just a temp thing until we could get them sorted a bit better, they're now in a different one. I went to so much trouble building separate broody pens and now it looks like it was a waste of time. I was wondering whether to try and introduce the chicks to the hens again tomorrow to see if they will mother them as they're now sitting on empty nests, (the other 2 eggs were duds). what do you think, could it work?

[TeaPots]

I would select one hen only, and put all the chicks under her, and watch from a safe distance, close enuff to step in if needed, but not so close as to be seen as a threat. She needs to feel she is not under threat by any peeps OR hens. If it fails, you should know quite quickly, bring chicks back in if needed, for a few hours, then try with a different hen?

[joyfull]

agree with teapots this will be a bit of trial and error with the chicks and hens but hopefully they will be ok. If not then you may have to keep them in the brooder box with the heat lamp.

[themagicaltoad1]

Well that didn't work. We tried them first with the hen I thought most likely to mother them. She was attracted by the cheeping and went into the broody hutch. We left the door open slightly so we could keep an eye on them. At first she kept a slight distance and watched them for a couple of minutes then just ran at them and savagely attacked them. It was even worse with the other 2 hens, I've never seen anything act so vicious. It took 2 of us to grab the chicks quick and fend off the hen! It looks like they'll be staying in the box for the next few weeks.
If there's anyone in or near Milton Keynes who could lend me a heat lamp for a few weeks I'd be very grateful. I don't think we'll be repeating this anytime soon so don't really want to buy one. The 100 watt bulb in a lamp is doing the job nicely for the time being but I'm worried it's a fire hazard, and it's VERY bright, can't be doing their eyes any good.

[Casey76]

you can buy a red bulb from B&Q... much cheaper than an infra red heat lamp, and since you are only doing this for a short time with a couple of chicks it won't make that much difference.