2 broodies and many questions!

[Jster]

We're going to be chicken great grandparents! One of our first chickens, aptly named Mama, went broody 1.5 years ago, and hatched a few chicks, one of which we kept and named Baby. Mama's sibling, Brownie, recently decided to go broody, and a couple of days later Baby joined her in the nest box. They've been there over a week, definitely dedicated.

So...we're trying to figure out our best course of action. We've looked at getting eggs, but it seems hard to get variety if you want to stick with breeds...most backyard breeders only have a couple breeds, and ordering from multiple people gets expensive. We're now leaning a little more towards getting some chicks and introducing them to our broodies. With two broody hens, is this more likely to work? Would the broodies fight over the chicks? How can we make this work best?

And I haven't gotton a pick of them yet...but will try to. One is a red sex link and the other is a welsummer. Too cute all cuddled in together.

 

[debilorrah]

Most broodies just want to be a mama - I would get two distinctively different looking breeds and give one to one broody and the others to the other broody.

 

[Jster]

Thanks debiraymond!

We ended up ordering some chicks today, kind of a mixed lot. Maybe when they get here we'll color sort them and give each broody her own color. I'm also wondering if we should move one of the broodies to a different spot? Right now they are both in our winter coop, and the other chickens have moved back into the summer coop, so they are secluded to themselves but share a space and a nestbox. Here's a pic, perhaps to inspire more comments/suggestions:

 

[tryingtohaveitall]

Great pic!

 

[fishermans wife]

You gotta love the broody trance look!

Beautiful girls!