2 broodies in same shed

[MuscovyMad]

I have had a broody hen for the last couple of weeks and never got round to breaking her. Howver she is the boss of the flock and as a result she was scaring the other hens off the adjacent nest box and one of my hens went missing. And egg production seemed to plummet.

However after moving some straw bales about i found my missing hen sat on 17 eggs :-( .

So seems as she has 17 embryos under her now i have decided to let her hatch them out. I took both broodies and put them in a seperate hen house with 8 eggs under one and 9 under the other.

My question is will they be happy with this arrangement when the chicks start arriving? Or will they attack / steal each others chicks?

I've only ever had one broody at a time so managing 2 at a time is new to me. Any tips would be much appreciated.

 

[darkmatter]

I've had multiple broodies at times. Sometimes they will share chicks with the chicks running back and forth to each hen as they cluck to signal" food here". Sometimes the Mama hen is very protective and aggressive toward everything, sometimes reclusive and secretive with the chicks.

 

[CorinneP]

Great Pics Darkmatter !

 

[SpiritedFarm]

LOL! Great pics & commentary!! Love it!

 

[MuscovyMad]

Good to know that they might be fine. Guess i'll just have to wait and see what type of mother they are.

Nice pic. I'm sure i've seen it on other posts before. Very funny.

 

[n8ivetxn]

Darkmatter - I love that top pic! Very cute!

Last Friday my neighbor called to tell me he went to check on the birds and there was a hen in the nest box. He reached over to get the eggs and she wouldn't let him

. I was really excited, my Wheaten French Marans was sitting! Then, on Sunday, I noticed my Black Copper French Marans hanging around the same nest box....eventually she got in. I thought she was going to lay

.... Not so, she's broody too! Now they're sitting on the same clutch, plus, the other girls are still trying to lay in the same box

.... I got a count last night, 15 eggs. Not likely, they'll all hatch.

I've got to come up with a way to keep the others out of that box. Maybe a wire divider, or something??? Why is it they do that, all of them lay in the same box? Like the others are diseased or something!? I might as well remove the others, they wouldn't notice...

I've got a pic I'll post a little later

 

[michiele]

I have 2 broody hens too! I am not sure what to do about them. I was letting the first one sit on 12 eggs, but then the 2nd one went broody a week later and they have split the eggs up and are sitting on them together, in the same nest box. I thought I had to separate them, but it sounds like some of you have successfully let 2 in one box. Should I leave them or take the 2nd broody hen out and put her somewhere else????

 

[n8ivetxn]

From what I've read it's purely an individual decision. I'm leaving mine alone..... I just wish the other girls would too!

 

[MuscovyMad]

I haven't been on in ages. But an update to this post is that all the eggs hatched and the 2 hens co raised the brood. Ie chicks would go from under one hen to under the other one with no problems. unfortunately there were only 3 girls in the entire hatch.