Broody hen adopted a 2 1/2 month pullet. Should I stop this?

[crazychickenlady81]

Hi all!
Have a strange one for ya. Was curious if anyone had any advice or similar experience.
Today we deep cleaned the coop because we were finally melding together the hens with the new girls, 2 1/2 month old pullets. They’ve been spending the last few weeks together in the chicken yard. As I’ve been slowly trying to get them accustom to each other. No major fights, but per usual, the hens aren’t stoked about the new girls and definitely try to assert their dominance when they can. So... today the littles spent the afternoon in the clean coop and after spending sometime watching, I walked off for a few hours to make dinner and attend to other things.
I came back to check in everyone during bed time because I wanted to supervise the hens getting ready to roost and make sure the littles would be okay. There was some scuffle. Nothing terrible. But all of the sudden, once all the hens went to roost, one of the littles (who has a very interesting personality by the way) ran around the coop erratically, and then hopped into a nest box with one of my broody hens. Huh? This hen had given her a good peck earlier in the day so I couldn’t figure out why the little pullet did this. The broody hen pecked her at first, but the little pullet just kept pushing herself underneath the broody hen. And then she kinda just seemed like she accepted her. I had to go run to the house to take a picture because I’ve never seen anything like this before.
So.... has anyone else seen this before? It’s super hot out, and I can’t imagine she’ll be comfortable under a hen. I don’t want her to die from overheating, but I also wonder if that was her instinct for safety. If anyone has any advice, please share!

 

[Shezadandy]

Bwahahah! If the broody has no eggs to worry about and they're happy together, I'd say let them be. Check at night time to ensure nobody's panting. If broody has eggs to hatch, you might want to separate her into a crate so she doesn't view her new adoptive chick as mission accomplished and leave the nest.

 

[centrarchid]

Is she past laying? Last summer I had a older 5+ year old hen that went out of lay in July. Then she started acting rooster like. Some chicks started hanging with her when they were about 3 weeks old. She took them in by going broody. Currently she is housed alone and she still acts rooster like to the point of crowing some mornings. She never resumed laying eggs.

 

[Shezadandy]

Also .. if she has no eggs and you decide to let them be, maybe run a little fan for them if you can secure it from getting knocked over by the others.

 

[crazychickenlady81]

Is she past laying? Last summer I had a older 5+ year old hen that went out of lay in July. Then she started acting rooster like. Some chicks started hanging with her when they were about 3 weeks old. She took them in by going broody. Currently she is housed alone and she still acts rooster like to the point of crowing some mornings. She never resumed laying eggs.

She just turned one a couple weeks ago. She’s barely a hen herself! But she’s gone broody on me a couple times this year already. I have not given her eggs to hatch. I usually let them stay broody for a bit and then break them by putting them in a crate for a couple days. I was planning to crate her tomorrow. She’s been in the nest box for about 2 weeks or so now. I kick her out frequently and she sometimes will come out to graze and dirt bathe for part of the day, but keeps going back to the nest. Last time she broke herself after a few weeks, so I was hoping that would happen again, but doesn’t seem like it this time.

 

[Finnie]

She just turned one a couple weeks ago. She’s barely a hen herself! But she’s gone broody on me a couple times this year already. I have not given her eggs to hatch. I usually let them stay broody for a bit and then break them by putting them in a crate for a couple days. I was planning to crate her tomorrow. She’s been in the nest box for about 2 weeks or so now. I kick her out frequently and she sometimes will come out to graze and dirt bathe for part of the day, but keeps going back to the nest. Last time she broke herself after a few weeks, so I was hoping that would happen again, but doesn’t seem like it this time.

Maybe if she adopts this chick, she will come out of the nest with it and parent it.

 

[TheMother]

Hi all!
Have a strange one for ya. Was curious if anyone had any advice or similar experience.
Today we deep cleaned the coop because we were finally melding together the hens with the new girls, 2 1/2 month old pullets. They’ve been spending the last few weeks together in the chicken yard. As I’ve been slowly trying to get them accustom to each other. No major fights, but per usual, the hens aren’t stoked about the new girls and definitely try to assert their dominance when they can. So... today the littles spent the afternoon in the clean coop and after spending sometime watching, I walked off for a few hours to make dinner and attend to other things.
I came back to check in everyone during bed time because I wanted to supervise the hens getting ready to roost and make sure the littles would be okay. There was some scuffle. Nothing terrible. But all of the sudden, once all the hens went to roost, one of the littles (who has a very interesting personality by the way) ran around the coop erratically, and then hopped into a nest box with one of my broody hens. Huh? This hen had given her a good peck earlier in the day so I couldn’t figure out why the little pullet did this. The broody hen pecked her at first, but the little pullet just kept pushing herself underneath the broody hen. And then she kinda just seemed like she accepted her. I had to go run to the house to take a picture because I’ve never seen anything like this before.
So.... has anyone else seen this before? It’s super hot out, and I can’t imagine she’ll be comfortable under a hen. I don’t want her to die from overheating, but I also wonder if that was her instinct for safety. If anyone has any advice, please share!

Well I'll say! That is a new one on here ! Did the 2 month old come from a hatchery or from another hen? I'm curious if it's instinctual for the chick to hop under a hen.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have this happen usually, and actually had this happen twice today with different birds (My standards that hatched In April got out and are running amuck in the barn where the pheonixes are)

1st time was a Sumatra male (?) Got up to the roost where my Pheonix male and 2 of his hens sleep. My male did not appreciate the Sumatra until he wedged his little body underneath my roosters wing.

2nd was actually two Sumatra youngsters. One *might* be on the edge of special needs and she decided that it was bedtime so she flopped down in the middle of the pen she was in and started crying loudly. Didn't stop until her sibling came and stood over her. Like literally was standing with a leg on each side of the crying one.

 

[Shezadandy]

I've got a couple that have been active nannies when the broody has had her fill of motherhood and kicked the youngsters out of the nest, so to speak - hens that stay with their chicks until they're almost adults … and I've had a roo or two with the foresight to 'adopt' a group of young pullets- hens that are not broody sit on eggs that started chirping where the broody was kicked off the nest … hens that stay with littles if they get separated from their group … and it's so nice to see when it happens.

 

[crazychickenlady81]

Well I'll say! That is a new one on here ! Did the 2 month old come from a hatchery or from another hen? I'm curious if it's instinctual for the chick to hop under a hen.

She came from a hatchery. I will say her behavior in general is strange compared to others I’ve had. She’s pretty docile, sweet and a bit demure. Is fine to be on her own. When I would let them out in the yard, she would usually stay behind by the food and water and just lay in the grass while the others would go explore. When she would go explore, she would go by herself and separate from the other chicks. She’s never seemed scared by the other hens. She also has a habit of ripping out the other pullets down feathers and eating them. She’s not mean about it. But she just slowly walks up to the others and quickly rips a down feather out and eats it. But at the same time she is friendly with them and the other pullets don’t seem alarmed when she does this, other than a quick noise that sounds like “ouch!”