Two Broody hens

[blueberrysilky]

I have two hens that have started hatching their eggs, the first he to hatch her eggs was my Buff Orpington hen named Big Mama, the other is a Black Sumatra hen named Midnight. Poor ole Midnight only got one egg of her own because i put all four of the Sumatra eggs I had, under Big Mama. My question is, can I snatch the chick from Midnight and let Big Mama raise bacause I do not have the space for two broody hens to raise chicks. Ultimately will Midnight become stressed and will she continue to brood in the future if it is ok to let Big Mama raise her babies. So my question is can I let anouther hen raise a baby that's not hers? (Big Mama already has 4 that she hatched.)

 

[sourland]

Hens generally bond with and identify their chicks quite rapidly and treat any others as strangers. This is especially true if the 'new' chicks are a different color. There are some hens who will accept any and all chicks offered to them.

 

[BoomChickaPop]

Yes as long as the chick is young it will imprint to Big Mama and she will accept it as her own.
Midnight might want to sit on eggs again after this. You will just have to break her broodiness


BCP

 

[blueberrysilky]

All the eggs that both hens are sitting on are from my one Sumatra hen. And all of them have hatched outing me at having 5 Sumatra chicks across two hens. 4 for Big Mama, the Buff Orpington and 1 for Midnight the Sumatra. So it will be ok if I move Midnights 1 chick with Big Mama as long as she accepts the new chick. I just simply don't have the space for two hens to brood, not even together in one box. Plus I will gain one layer (The Sumatra) in the process. I sell her eggs locally for incubation.