Anybody else had a postnatally psychotic hen and what's the solution?

[duchesse]

Stumped with this one. Hen has been doggedly sitting for about 8 weeks now. Cockerel is no longer very active so our eggs are very infertile. First batch laid in hedge then found after a fortnight or so yielded one chick, that freaked the hen out so much that she moved herself and the remaining eggs off the nest and left poor Polly (for it was he) to die. I saved him luckily, just in the nick of time.

Well, I wasn't very organised about the hen move and several more hens managed to lay their eggs in the nest before I realised what was happening. So she carried on sitting on new eggs. A new chick has now hatched and she threw him/her out of the nest and left him to freeze to death. She really is quite mad. Is there any cure? I've popped the latest little one back underneath her but I suspect he'll be ejected again before he's warmed up and I'll be back to nurturing an indoor chick again.

Any ideas?

[Catswiththumbs]

Chuck her off the nest for a few days, lock her out if need be- she will be disgruntled and put up a fight but it's better in the long run.
Chuck the eggs and start a fresh if you want her to sit them, we used to collect them daily and save clutches that were laid at a similar time then put them under a broody hen. Then shut the hen in if the others were laying to them.

Providing the chick is warm, and the crows/magpies/rats can't get to him he will be fine.

She just sounds young and stupid even for a chicken they don't deal with interference very well!