Tilhana
Songster
Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out why the chicks that hatch under my broody hens have such a high mortality rate, especially compared to those I've hatched in an incubator.
When I've hatched eggs in an incubator, I've had a pretty good success rate. Last year I had 19 chicks hatch from a batch of 24 in an incubator. All of them thrived until adolescence, when we started having some predator issues. This year, I incubated 30 eggs and 20 hatched (I think some of the eggs were a little too old), and again, all of them (now 8 weeks old) are thriving.
In contrast, the chicks that have hatched under broody hens have had really high mortality. Last year I had 6 chicks hatch under a broody hen. One I found dead under the hen shortly after hatching - no injuries, just dead. A second one died a few days later. It just sort of stopped following the mama around until it got cold and huddled in place. I found it while it was still alive, and tried to warm it up, but it just gradually expired within a few hours. Again, no injuries; it seemed like it got sick or there was something internally wrong with it. This year, the same hen went broody again and this time hatched 2 chicks before abandonning the rest of the eggs. Those two are doing fine so far.
But a second broody hen has had incredibly high mortality rates despite no apparent failures on her part. I should note that hers has been a pretty staggered hatch, due to other hens repeatedly laying eggs in her nest box while she was out of it to eat. But despite this she's been pretty dedicated about sitting on the eggs long after the first chick hatched. So, before any successful hatches, I found no less than 3 eggs (with mostly developed chicks inside) crushed or possibly part way through hatching, and the chicks dead. I suspect they may have been crushed due to too many eggs being in the nest, but it's hard to be sure. Then 2 chicks hatched successfully, and a couple days later, 2 more. Then the same day the 2 newest ones hatched, I found both of them outside the nesting box, one injured and close to death, apparently attacked by an older chicken. The second was uninjured but dead right outside the nest box. I thought the lip of the box was small enough that they could get in and out but maybe it got stuck outside and the mama hen just didn't bother to help it? Then when I moved the hen, I found one of the older ones dead in the nest, also with no apparent injuries. I'm guessing there was an altercation with an older hen, maybe a scuffle and some of the chicks got trampled or something? But I have no way of knowing - the one with the injuries was still alive when I found it, so it can't have been there very long, which means the other two must have either died very suddenly or much earlier in the day, which would mean they might have already been dead when the other chick got attacked...
I then moved the hen and her remaining chick to a more secure location where they'd be safe from the older chickens. I also flipped the nest box (which is a milk crate with a U-shaped hole cut in it) over so that the eggs were on the ground and chicks could run in and out without having to crawl over a lip that might be too high for them. Since then, 3 more eggs have hatched, (about one every couple days), and the first 2 of them died within a day or less. (The third is fine so far, so this hen now has 2 healthy live chicks with her). These first 2 chicks hatched out completely, were alive and chirping, and then the next day they were just dead, with no apparent injuries. I've been watching the mama hen and she's definitely still sitting on the nest most of the time, despite having other chicks to look after. She's not abandonning them or letting them freeze.
What is going on? This death rate is roughly 2/3 of the total chicks that successfully hatch under a broody hen dying mysteriously with no sign of injury. That's not counting the 3 eggs that got crushed or died mid-hatch, or the one that was attacked. Could this be an indicator of some latent disease in the flock that's being transmitted to newborn chicks and killing a lot of them? Or are domesticated hens just not very good moms? Do they routinely trample on new chicks and crush them? Any ideas on what else could be causing these "nest deaths"? I'm so discouraged from burying so many dead chicks, I'm tempted to give up on letting broody hens hatch eggs ever again.
When I've hatched eggs in an incubator, I've had a pretty good success rate. Last year I had 19 chicks hatch from a batch of 24 in an incubator. All of them thrived until adolescence, when we started having some predator issues. This year, I incubated 30 eggs and 20 hatched (I think some of the eggs were a little too old), and again, all of them (now 8 weeks old) are thriving.
In contrast, the chicks that have hatched under broody hens have had really high mortality. Last year I had 6 chicks hatch under a broody hen. One I found dead under the hen shortly after hatching - no injuries, just dead. A second one died a few days later. It just sort of stopped following the mama around until it got cold and huddled in place. I found it while it was still alive, and tried to warm it up, but it just gradually expired within a few hours. Again, no injuries; it seemed like it got sick or there was something internally wrong with it. This year, the same hen went broody again and this time hatched 2 chicks before abandonning the rest of the eggs. Those two are doing fine so far.
But a second broody hen has had incredibly high mortality rates despite no apparent failures on her part. I should note that hers has been a pretty staggered hatch, due to other hens repeatedly laying eggs in her nest box while she was out of it to eat. But despite this she's been pretty dedicated about sitting on the eggs long after the first chick hatched. So, before any successful hatches, I found no less than 3 eggs (with mostly developed chicks inside) crushed or possibly part way through hatching, and the chicks dead. I suspect they may have been crushed due to too many eggs being in the nest, but it's hard to be sure. Then 2 chicks hatched successfully, and a couple days later, 2 more. Then the same day the 2 newest ones hatched, I found both of them outside the nesting box, one injured and close to death, apparently attacked by an older chicken. The second was uninjured but dead right outside the nest box. I thought the lip of the box was small enough that they could get in and out but maybe it got stuck outside and the mama hen just didn't bother to help it? Then when I moved the hen, I found one of the older ones dead in the nest, also with no apparent injuries. I'm guessing there was an altercation with an older hen, maybe a scuffle and some of the chicks got trampled or something? But I have no way of knowing - the one with the injuries was still alive when I found it, so it can't have been there very long, which means the other two must have either died very suddenly or much earlier in the day, which would mean they might have already been dead when the other chick got attacked...
I then moved the hen and her remaining chick to a more secure location where they'd be safe from the older chickens. I also flipped the nest box (which is a milk crate with a U-shaped hole cut in it) over so that the eggs were on the ground and chicks could run in and out without having to crawl over a lip that might be too high for them. Since then, 3 more eggs have hatched, (about one every couple days), and the first 2 of them died within a day or less. (The third is fine so far, so this hen now has 2 healthy live chicks with her). These first 2 chicks hatched out completely, were alive and chirping, and then the next day they were just dead, with no apparent injuries. I've been watching the mama hen and she's definitely still sitting on the nest most of the time, despite having other chicks to look after. She's not abandonning them or letting them freeze.
What is going on? This death rate is roughly 2/3 of the total chicks that successfully hatch under a broody hen dying mysteriously with no sign of injury. That's not counting the 3 eggs that got crushed or died mid-hatch, or the one that was attacked. Could this be an indicator of some latent disease in the flock that's being transmitted to newborn chicks and killing a lot of them? Or are domesticated hens just not very good moms? Do they routinely trample on new chicks and crush them? Any ideas on what else could be causing these "nest deaths"? I'm so discouraged from burying so many dead chicks, I'm tempted to give up on letting broody hens hatch eggs ever again.
But I'd not let your hens have chicks anymore if it was me. Once my hens show they can't mother, they get no more...
