Hens raising their chicks together?

[Pigeony]

I have two sister Ayam Cemani hens who went broody at the same time. In the summer heat, I didn't have the heart to break them of being broody but I also didn't want them to overheat on the nestbox, so I went out in the dead of night and gave them some fresh and new feedstore chicks. I gave them two each, but when they got up in the morning, they apparently decided to pool the babies into one group and have just been raising all 4 cooperatively. They've been raising them completely together for around a week and a half, I think at this point. I was just wondering, how common is this? Does anyone else have chickens that raise their babies together?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Hello!!
Our situation is so similar!!
I have 3 broodies right now and it is very hot where I am Next week it's going to be in the high 90's in my area. But like you, I didn't have the heart to break them.
Yes, last year I had two of my hens "co-parent" and they both took responsibilities for the chicks and took turns taking breaks while the other would care for the chicks. Turns out that it is pretty common, you can go to my older thread where people shared pics of their hens parenting together. It's so cute
I'm so glad that your hens accepted the chicks, because I recently hatched chicks and I showed one to one of my broody girls hoping that she would accept the chick, and she pecked it really hard! (Probably because she KNEW it wasn't her own)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Some hens can coparent with others, some can't. It's just luck of the draw when it's the first time they try it, and you just have to watch them during hatching if you're willing to risk letting them try

 

[MountainWoman73]

I had two co-parenting, but after 2-3 days the more experienced broody took over raising the chicks on her own and the other one quit. But "helping" for a couple days was enough to break the second hen of her broodiness, so everyone was happy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sometimes hens work together great at co-parenting. They incubate and hatch the eggs together and raise them together. There are several threads on this forum showing that.

Sometimes it does not work. One time I had two broody hens fight over a nest of eggs when the eggs starting chirping just before hatch. They destroyed half of the eggs before one won the fight and the other left. Sometimes hens kill chicks that hatch under the other hen. Sometimes they fight over which one gets to raise them. Sometimes a broody hen that has chicks will take chicks from another broody, even with an age difference. Chicks are usually not hurt in these fights but occasionally some are. The loser breaks from being broody in a couple of days.

You are dealing with living animals. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes not. Good luck however you try it.

 

[Pigeony]

Hello!!
Our situation is so similar!!
I have 3 broodies right now and it is very hot where I am Next week it's going to be in the high 90's in my area. But like you, I didn't have the heart to break them.
Yes, last year I had two of my hens "co-parent" and they both took responsibilities for the chicks and took turns taking breaks while the other would care for the chicks. Turns out that it is pretty common, you can go to my older thread where people shared pics of their hens parenting together. It's so cute
I'm so glad that your hens accepted the chicks, because I recently hatched chicks and I showed one to one of my broody girls hoping that she would accept the chick, and she pecked it really hard! (Probably because she KNEW it wasn't her own)

It's so interesting, i didn't realize how commonly this happens! I love seeing the little family I have running around together, both the hens are always with the babies. I'm planning to have my broodies raise a lot more of my chicks, I just never gave them a shot before this and they never seemed that dead set on being broody.

 

[SourRoses]

We currently have two broodies raising 13 chicks together. They seemed to bond since sitting on the eggs... which started as two nests without a divider and they merged it into one big nest. Now sometimes they stick so close to each other that I wonder for a moment if a broody is missing, lol.
They're actually mother and daughter but brooded by people, neither has prior broody experience.
The elder hen is much more alert for predators, while the younger is better at calling the chicks and keeping them fed, although they both contribute. When some chicks are back inside the brooder the elder hen goes and watches over them, often standing in the doorway, while the younger hen sticks with all the littles playing in their run.