Mama hen not really mothering, thinks she's brooding still?

[Ashlynwanderer]

I have a grey hen (Americana I think), who has been broody for a couple of months now. I let her sit some eggs but it was in the nesting box so they ended up not being the same ages because other hens would add more. (I did try marking the eggs with pencil but it just came off). So she nearly hatched some chicks but none succeeded.

Shortly afterwards, an Easter egger of mine successfully hatched three chicks and they are now feathering in and free ranging with her outside. Shes a great mom.

The Americana, meanwhile, kept on trying to brood, so I just kept taking her eggs away. At some point I missed one and took it inside to candle it and saw that it was developing. So this time I used a pen to mark it, and I put it back under her, thinking of give her a second chance. A week or two later I checked on her and she had a fuzzy black chick under her. So I moved her and her baby into my hen and chicks zone in the coop (separated from everyone else via hardware cloth). But she started trying to escape and go sit on her now empty nest. She wasn't attentive to the new chick at all. I pulled all the old shavings out of the nest box and showed her so that she would see her nest was gone and pay attention to her chick, but instead she's now decided to find a new place to sit and brood on the floor within the hen and chick zone. Her little chick is still alive after day two, and i believe he sleeps under her, but she is still just sitting. She doesn't get up except to eat and drink. She doesn't talk to the chick or show him food or anything. And she pecks at him when he is in front of her. It doesn't seem like the pecking is meant to get him to go hide underneath, but it's not so aggressive that he's getting hurt or thrown. But I'm worried she'll damage his eyes or something. So far I've been taking him by hand and "pecking" the food with my finger to show him to eat, and it's working. He still very much wants her to be his mom. He follows her around when she moves and keeps trying to be near to her. After 24-36 hours of this with no improvement, I decided to give her a cold water bath to try and break her out of brooding mode. Shes back in the coop now with him and I'm hoping it will work.

My other option is that I have set two eggs under another broody Easter egger who has been trying to sit for a month or so, and if the Americana hen is still not being a mom, I may try to slip the chick under the Easter egger and see if she'll adopt him.

Any thoughts? Advice? Insight? Thanks.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Sounds like the chick was rejected. I would try to get it adopted or raise it personally if adoption fails

The broody should be broken out of broodiness. It takes a lot of strength and energy reserves to sit on eggs for the three weeks it takes to hatch eggs. They burn up a lot of their fat in this time period. Out of kindness to the hens, if I don't want a broody to hatch eggs I break her broodiness immediately

 

[Ashlynwanderer]

Sounds like the chick was rejected. I would try to get it adopted or raise it personally if adoption fails

The broody should be broken out of broodiness. It takes a lot of strength and energy reserves to sit on eggs for the three weeks it takes to hatch eggs. They burn up a lot of their fat in this time period. Out of kindness to the hens, if I don't want a broody to hatch eggs I break her broodiness immediately.

Okay. Hm. I feel like if she's rejected the chick, it's rather halfhearted. I'll try sneaking him under another broody tonight.

How can I break her of broodiness? I've tried locking her out of the coop for a few hours, I've tried taking all the eggs and dumping her outside daily, I've tried a cold water bath...

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Okay. Hm. I feel like if she's rejected the chick, it's rather halfhearted. I'll try sneaking him under another broody tonight.

How can I break her of broodiness? I've tried locking her out of the coop for a few hours, I've tried taking all the eggs and dumping her outside daily, I've tried a cold water bath...

The standard for breaking broodiness is 72 hours in a kennel with a bottom that doesn't allow them to sit like a broody, and that forces them to roost on a stick at night

Sometimes it takes 5 days, sometimes 7, but 3 days is standard

I try to make broody jail as comfortable as possible within the above mentioned criteria

 

[Ashlynwanderer]

The standard for breaking broodiness is 72 hours in a kennel with a bottom that doesn't allow them to sit like a broody, and that forces them to roost on a stick at night

Sometimes it takes 5 days, sometimes 7, but 3 days is standard

I try to make broody jail as comfortable as possible within the above mentioned criteria

Oh, I see. Okay. Thanks.

I checked on the chick this evening and he was nestled under the hen. I really don't know what to make of the situation. I haven't moved him since he was under her.

 

[BDutch]

Its normal that a mother hen doesn't do anything with a chick that hatched for the first 2 days. Only keeps it warm underneath her. After 1-3 days she leaves the nest to eat and drink with the chick. Laying bits of food on the ground for the chick.