Broody solidarity

[MountainWoman73]

I have never had a broody hen before in 10 years of chicken keeping.... And now that my coop is already 4 birds over capacity, I have not one, but TWO. Lol. C'est la vie.

Letting them have a total of 5 eggs, 2 and 3 each, and hoping they each hatch one.

 

[Blue Raptor]

I have never had a broody hen before in 10 years of chicken keeping.... And now that my coop is already 4 birds over capacity, I have not one, but TWO. Lol. C'est la vie.

Letting them have a total of 5 eggs, 2 and 3 each, and hoping they each hatch one.

Australorps are so broody! Each 5 of mine go broody each year!It gets really annoying!

 

[MountainWoman73]

The black one is a BCM, Minnie Mae. She's not a great broody. Lets other hens in her nest box while she's off having a dust bath, switches nests, sits in the wrong box all night.... But, she was a really good mom to the chick she raised in June.

So, my current strategy is to give all the real eggs to the Bielefelder hen, who seems to be doing a better job, and then try to let Minnie have a chick if more than one hatches.

 

[MountainWoman73]

Two chicks! I threw out the rest of the eggs after candling on day 18. Of the two that had developed at all, both hatched successfully.

This morning after the chicks were warm and fluffy, I transferred one from the hatch mom, Billie, to Minnie Mae, the biological mom, who has been sitting on golf balls. So far she seems to be accepting it.

We'll see what happens when I move them out of the nest boxes onto the floor.

I'm hoping I can have two satisfied broodies with only two extra chicks added to my flock. If I get away with this I'll pinch myself.

 

[MountainWoman73]

 

[MountainWoman73]

So, the hatch mom has taken over mothering. I put both hens in together for two days, and sometimes Minnie Mae would sit on one chick, but mostly they stayed under Billie. Both moms talk to the chicks and show them food and water. Now Minnie Mae has chosen to go back to the flock and leave the chicks with Billie. But two days of co-parenting seems to have been enough to break her of her broodiness. She is no longer trying to sit.