Two broody hens?

[Debbie292d]

I move my broody hens into dog boxes as the constant disturbances in the coop and run is not nice for the broody hens my thought. In the dog box individually they are quiet, with food and water and they are free to go out whenever they like.
Also I can easily clean the dog boxes when the broody hens are outside. They seem to like the dog boxes, and they all raised their kids in those. After they done with all the raising chicks, they often return to the dog boxes. I think they like it.

I never knew what a dog box was until I saw someone in the area post one for $20 on Marketplace. I offered $15 and they took it and helped get it into the truck. Those things are heavy! My understanding is they aren't dog houses, but called dog boxes for those that haul their hunting dogs around.

Anyway, here's our dog box. Hubby tore it apart and rebuilt it. The front side is hinged. We're using it for in a grow-out pen in our parrot's aviary.

 

[BDutch]

Thanks for your response. Did you ever have multiple broodies at one time? If so, did they raise chicks together or fight over chicks? I’ve heard silkies are usually really good mamas.

I had multiple broodies several times (most hatches). If one is broody and gets eggs, another wants to co-brood. I know it highly depends on the breed, the individuals and even more on the flock dynamics.

My broodies don’t fight over chicks if they hatch on the same days (+1/-1).
It happened they abandoned their own nest to co-brood on one nest together.

I would mark the eggs. To spot and take away new eggs.
Give each broody max 5 eggs. If she doesn’t raise her chicks properly, the good mama takes over or you can give the chicks to the good mama.

A large group of chicks are more difficult to raise, especially in winter. If you don’t trust both your broodies, keep an incubator and a brooder setup as a backup if you can.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

How did you go with sorting this out? Sorry, if I got this wrong, I think you post was in May 2024.

My 2 girls didn’t get along after the babies hatched. They might have been okay except the babies kept gravitating toward each other, and when the hens got too close they’d fight. I only ended up with 3 chicks, so I put them all under the older hen, and the younger one seemed content to just be done with it all.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

My experience with broodies has been limited to two different experiences with 1 terrible broody who hatched eggs but wouldn’t raise babies.

Two of my young hens just went broody. The younger hen, Garrison, is daughter of the above terrible broody. I’m a little leery about how good of a broody she’ll be if genetics are involved. She’s 7 months old and a mix of mostly Wyandotte and orpington.

I've only ever had one bad broody and she was also an Orpington mix, in my case Brahma/Orpington. She would hatch eggs, then ignore the babies

I’ve read lots of posts and blogs where people show hens raising chicks together. Is this what usually happens with dual broodies? Or is it more often that they fight over chicks and that just doesn’t get shown on the internet as much?

I've had maybe five sets of dual broodies over the years that sit together and raise their babies together. Not once has there been violence or issues with two moms. Perhaps it's a breed thing because all of my dual moms have been gamefowl. Their motherhood abilities are second to none

 

[SkyAJK]

I never knew what a dog box was until I saw someone in the area post one for $20 on Marketplace. I offered $15 and they took it and helped get it into the truck. Those things are heavy! My understanding is they aren't dog houses, but called dog boxes for those that haul their hunting dogs around.

Anyway, here's our dog box. Hubby tore it apart and rebuilt it. The front side is hinged. We're using it for in a grow-out pen in our parrot's aviary.

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I am sorry I should have give more details, dog box to me is a dog carrier box. Here is a few photos. I use these boxes whenever my dogs go in a car and I now use them for broody hen. It is made of plastic, so i is light and easy to clean and the top and bottom can be undone for moving or cleaning. I use newspaper and cardboard to avoid lice and mites.

 

[SkyAJK]

My 2 girls didn’t get along after the babies hatched. They might have been okay except the babies kept gravitating toward each other, and when the hens got too close they’d fight. I only ended up with 3 chicks, so I put them all under the older hen, and the younger one seemed content to just be done with it all.

My broody hens are raising chicks now and same like your, they do not like each other. My Australorp bantam mother hen attacks my Japanese bantam mother hen whenever she sees the other one. It was not nice because one is bigger than the other. I found that broody hen is very aggressive, that is with or without eggs.

 

[SkyAJK]

I never knew what a dog box was until I saw someone in the area post one for $20 on Marketplace. I offered $15 and they took it and helped get it into the truck. Those things are heavy! My understanding is they aren't dog houses, but called dog boxes for those that haul their hunting dogs around.

Anyway, here's our dog box. Hubby tore it apart and rebuilt it. The front side is hinged. We're using it for in a grow-out pen in our parrot's aviary.

View attachment 3979138

View attachment 3979143

It looks nice and strong. I love your fluffy chicks so beautiful.