Broody hen brooding other broody hen!

[Hypertay]

Big Bird, MaryAnn and Ginger are only 7 months old, and have been laying about 2 months. BB is a cuckoo and BCM mix and the others are full BCM. BB broods MaryAnn, who is also broody and just lays there. Ginger is just mad she doesn't have anyone to talk to out in the run. Ginger is the only one laying any eggs at the moment and every 5th one or so is softshell.

We also have 5 red star pullets and 1 roo, in a separate big tractor about 15 ft away, they are almost 3 months old. All the birds are aware of the others, and the big ones do not like the small ones. We think it's about time they were put together but the broodiness is a problem. (We will be connecting the coop/run with the tractor.)

It's really hot and muggy, and their coop is not very big. They were sitting in the nest boxes until I made them move with ice cubes! The only other way to get them out of the coop is mealworm bribes, but they only need so many of those in a day. They are big and fluffy and the one brooding is much bigger than the other one. When MaryAnn moves to the other nest box, Big Bird climbs right on top of her and stands there fluffed up looking like a turkey. They growl and grumble at me when I open the egg box but haven't pecked me. Now their sister Ginger doesn't want to lay her egg in there because of the ice and because Big Bird will try to brood her too! Should I just lock them all out of the coop and give them a nest box in the run for Ginger? Should I then put in the other chickens? Or wait until the broodiness is over? Or, let the broodies stay in the coop if they want and then mix in the younguns? Or, any suggestions?

 

[Hypertay]

This afternoon I locked them all out of the coop for 3 hours to clean the nest boxes of the ice water, and when the light started changing I went outside and opened the door for them. They all climbed on the roost as fast as they could, and I put their boxes back and filled them with shavings. Then I looked on the roost and this is what I saw!



Ginger, Big Bird, and MaryAnn's butt! Big bird is brooding both her sisters and they are allowing it. Immediately after I took this picture, Ginger jumped in the left box and dropped her egg. Do you think, if she held it from when I locked them out, for 3 hours, was she uncomfortable or in pain? She did not call as she usually does if something distresses her, like when she found ants in her food or if the tarp gets loose over the moveable run. (Direct sun on black chickens is bad!) She calls when the others are laying eggs too, but only sometimes when she has layed her own. Today I heard nothing from any of them except the angry growling while angrily dustbathing and angrily drinking and angrily scratching the grass and angrily inhaling their mealworms after the lockout. Even after she laid her egg Ginger was quiet.

I put ice in their water and put a fan at the end of the run, and mist some of the grass in front of the fan which they like to scratch through while it's damp. I'm thinking of cutting off some of their fluff but I am not really sure if they would allow me to get near them with scissors. Ginger's comb has always been droopy but today it is really low, and Big Bird's has started to droop too. I worry about dehydration but they drink and get water from the wet grass.

Tomorrow I think we will move the run into the shade away from the coop altogether, next to the tractor with the other girls and the roo, and put a nest box in it for Ginger. And we might put them together and see what happens.

Anyone have any thoughts or just want to comment on my ridiculous hen brooding her ridiculous sisters?