Broody half-sisters changing nests

[Joca13]

Hi,

I have 2 Broody half sisters hens (same brahma mother) that decided to sit on eggs in adjacent nests with a difference of 7 days between then. They're now sitting in 11 eggs each and separated from the rest of the flock.
The thing is they usually make they're break together to poop and dine (just like a social visit with you're best mate) but then they're constantly changing nests.
They don't even fight with each other for not being the "usual" nest. The fisrt one to return chooses the nest and the other simply goes to the other.

This is a first for me... It's almost chicken co-parenting....

Is this normal? And can there be a problem when the chicks from the first nest hatch?

 

[AidKD]

The only problem I see with that is if the hen who's behind has to sit on the eggs longer than what she would originally have to and she gets tired of it and stops sitting. And I've dined with my best mates before, but never have I pooped with them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is this normal?

The more I see of chickens the less ready I am to call anything normal. Is them swapping nests like that what I'd expect? No. The way I understand this you have two different nests set up in an isolated area away from the rest of the flock. I don't know what it looks like, how big the area is, anything like that, but I am not shocked they'd do something like this. You never know what living animals will do.

And can there be a problem when the chicks from the first nest hatch?

There can be. Many people have set-ups where they have multiple broody hens sitting on individual nests either with the flock or in an isolated area like you and have no problems. Many people have two hens sharing the same nest and eggs with no problems, both hens working together to hatch and then raise the chicks. You are not guaranteed any problems. But occasionally a hen may kill the chicks that hatch under the other hen. The hens may fight over the chicks, both wanting the raise them and unwilling to share. One time I had a hen that had just gone broody in a different nest two days before another hen's eggs started to hatch. When the second hen heard the chicks peeping she fought the first broody to take over the nest. They destroyed half the eggs, every one with a living chick in it. I now do not allow two broody hens to be able to get to each other's nest or to have baby chicks in the same area.

As I said, many people in your situation have no problems but you never know what living animals will do. I cannot give you any guarantees one way or the other.

 

[Joca13]

The only problem I see with that is if the hen who's behind has to sit on the eggs longer than what she would originally have to and she gets tired of it and stops sitting. And I've dined with my best mates before, but never have I pooped with them.

Right... I was referencing the habit that women usually have of going to the WC together...

Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings

 

[Joca13]

The more I see of chickens the less ready I am to call anything normal. Is them swapping nests like that what I'd expect? No. The way I understand this you have two different nests set up in an isolated area away from the rest of the flock. I don't know what it looks like, how big the area is, anything like that, but I am not shocked they'd do something like this. You never know what living animals will do.


There can be. Many people have set-ups where they have multiple broody hens sitting on individual nests either with the flock or in an isolated area like you and have no problems. Many people have two hens sharing the same nest and eggs with no problems, both hens working together to hatch and then raise the chicks. You are not guaranteed any problems. But occasionally a hen may kill the chicks that hatch under the other hen. The hens may fight over the chicks, both wanting the raise them and unwilling to share. One time I had a hen that had just gone broody in a different nest two days before another hen's eggs started to hatch. When the second hen heard the chicks peeping she fought the first broody to take over the nest. They destroyed half the eggs, every one with a living chick in it. I now do not allow two broody hens to be able to get to each other's nest or to have baby chicks in the same area.

As I said, many people in your situation have no problems but you never know what living animals will do. I cannot give you any guarantees one way or the other.

It is not the first time that they sit together with no problem until now....when they hatch they just co-parent...

But it is the first time that they swap nests...

 

[Ridgerunner]

As I said many times they can work together quite well. The risk I see with the eggs being a week apart is that the second hen might (or might not) abandon her eggs to coparent the first chicks that hatch. You never know what a living animal will do. You might want to think about what you will do if she does abandon her eggs.

 

[Joca13]

As I said many times they can work together quite well. The risk I see with the eggs being a week apart is that the second hen might (or might not) abandon her eggs to coparent the first chicks that hatch. You never know what a living animal will do. You might want to think about what you will do if she does abandon her eggs.

In that case there's an incubator waiting for them