I have 4 hens that were sitting on eggs, they have paired up. First group is two hens a mottled Cochin with a bantam, the second group is a molted Cochin with a bantam. Now for group one, in this group these two girls are proud mommies of 4 little black feathered chicks. In group two these two mommies had 5 baby chicks but are now down to 2 yellow feathered chicks. Over the weekend I hatched out 10 Phoenix chicks, 1 is all brown, 2 are black and the other 7 look like chipmunks.
Well I decided it would be a good idea to give the two mommies that are down to 2 chicks all 10 Phoenixs. Well things were going great the two mommies adopting them and everyone one was a happy camper until the black chicks in group one decided to come over to group twos place and visit all the chicks, kind of hang out. For some reason or another they started chirping really loud, I was working so I couldnt say for sure what was going on, I go to lock them all up at night and in group two I noticed all the chipmunk chicks plus the two yellow chicks were by there mommy and on the other side of the coop was 4 little black chicks. The mommies in group two kept pecking at the little chicks head if they came near or by them. Now I thought this is really odd because out of the 10 chicks that I gave this group there was 1 brown and 2 black chicks. So I went into group ones coop I couldn't see the chicks in there because they were already under neath the two mommies, so what I did was take the 4 black chicks that group two were pecking at and gave them to the mommies in group one. There was no pecking going except pecking at me. The two mommies took the 4 black chicks under there wing. So now group one has 8 black chicks when it originally had 4 and group two has 7 chipmunk looking chicks plus there original yellow chicks totally 9.
Apparently at some point during the day this mix up happened and my husband gave the hens in group two a wrong chick. One of the black chicks out of the 4 actually belonged to group one... So my question is can hens see color because group two clearly did not want anything to do with the black chicks even though 3 of them were ones that I had put under her Sunday night. And group one didn't have a problem what so ever taken the black chicks in... I'm sure in group 2 the mottled Cochin some how knew that the one black chick was not hers so instead of just adopting him she kept all dark colored chicks out. but how would she know it wasn't hers since I just put 10 under here Sunday?
Well I decided it would be a good idea to give the two mommies that are down to 2 chicks all 10 Phoenixs. Well things were going great the two mommies adopting them and everyone one was a happy camper until the black chicks in group one decided to come over to group twos place and visit all the chicks, kind of hang out. For some reason or another they started chirping really loud, I was working so I couldnt say for sure what was going on, I go to lock them all up at night and in group two I noticed all the chipmunk chicks plus the two yellow chicks were by there mommy and on the other side of the coop was 4 little black chicks. The mommies in group two kept pecking at the little chicks head if they came near or by them. Now I thought this is really odd because out of the 10 chicks that I gave this group there was 1 brown and 2 black chicks. So I went into group ones coop I couldn't see the chicks in there because they were already under neath the two mommies, so what I did was take the 4 black chicks that group two were pecking at and gave them to the mommies in group one. There was no pecking going except pecking at me. The two mommies took the 4 black chicks under there wing. So now group one has 8 black chicks when it originally had 4 and group two has 7 chipmunk looking chicks plus there original yellow chicks totally 9.
Apparently at some point during the day this mix up happened and my husband gave the hens in group two a wrong chick. One of the black chicks out of the 4 actually belonged to group one... So my question is can hens see color because group two clearly did not want anything to do with the black chicks even though 3 of them were ones that I had put under her Sunday night. And group one didn't have a problem what so ever taken the black chicks in... I'm sure in group 2 the mottled Cochin some how knew that the one black chick was not hers so instead of just adopting him she kept all dark colored chicks out. but how would she know it wasn't hers since I just put 10 under here Sunday?
