BackYardChickens Forum

If #2 goes into Momma mode instead of broody mode, I'll be happy.  Anything that gets her out of that box will be a plus.  She just happened to pick the most popular nest box and I am tired of fighting her for all the eggs that the others lay on top of her and she adopts as her own.

OK, last update for today, this is too fun.

On a visit to the coop, I noticed 2 of the 4 chicks hanging around the edge of the nesting box, and figured it was just a matter of time before they fell off.  So...we moved the nest to the floor inside an old milk crate and wrapped in a cardboard box to block the drafts.  Momma and kids seemed to be fine with the move, so we left them for a couple of hours to see what would happen.

On the return trip, we found her "training" the chicks on where to find food, what to eat, where to get a drink, and everything else.  It was one of those moments that you just can't duplicate with an order of chicks from the feed mill or hatchery.

So I grabbed the video camera, because I had to share the "training".  It is available via the link below and is about 2MB in size. 

View My Video

I just love how she was talking to them the entire time.  What a good coach!

Update time!

The chicks are just over 2 weeks old, and are doing great.  We were 12/12 on eggs today, meaning either someone laid 2 eggs or both bantams have gone back to laying even though the chicks are still pretty young.  The 2nd hen that went broody has not been a very good momma, leaving her chicks to fend for themselves while she wanders outside scratching about.  She has also been up on the roost with the other girls for the last few nights, essentially abandoning her 2 chicks to the night.  She was staying on the ground with them before, but something changed her mind.

However, my little Japanese Grey has been an exceptional momma!  She spends 24/7 taking care of her 4 chicks, and they seemed to be developing faster than the other 2.  On top of that, when I went out to lock the pop door tonight, we could not find the other 2 chicks...until we looked under her!  She had been running them off prior to today, but now it seems that she has either adopted them or is at least letting them sleep with her to stay warm.  I have a heat lamp in there as a backup, but now that I have seen all 6 chicks with her, I am confident that they will all stay healthy.

Either way, the experiment of moving the last 3 eggs under the 2nd broody was a success in that it got her off the nest and back into laying mode.  The fact that the 2 chicks are now back with the "good" momma is a bonus. 

I'll post some pics later.  4 of the 6 look like they might be frizzles because the feathers on the wingtips are curling right up and they look like the frizzle chick pictures on feathersite.com.