Broody hen shared her new hatchlings???

[HopMomma]

I had 2 hens this year go full momma mode. As of yesterday my brown mom had 3 hatched. My gold hen none. Today we were fixing up her own private run for moms and babies when we noticed she got down out of box, left 2 of her new chicks with momma who didnt have any hatched yet and outside. Why would she give 2 of her healthy babies away? Now the gold one has 1 of her own that hatched. Did she do it to help out the hatch? Will she accept them back? What is going on?

 

[DobieLover]

I had 2 hens this year go full momma mode. As of yesterday my brown mom had 3 hatched. My gold hen none. Today we were fixing up her own private run for moms and babies when we noticed she got down out of box, left 2 of her new chicks with momma who didnt have any hatched yet and outside. Why would she give 2 of her healthy babies away? Now the gold one has 1 of her own that hatched. Did she do it to help out the hatch? Will she accept them back? What is going on?

How long ago did the three chicks hatch? It sounds like the hatch was staggered and in an elevated box. The one chick may have fallen out of the nest and the mother went down to take care of it. The others were too scared to jump down to her and stayed with the other broody. She is in full blown broody mode and will happily take the chicks but you should remove them from her tonight and get them under their own hatch mother.

She does not need to be isolated from the flock. She will raise the chicks within the flock.
However, the flock needs to be on chick starter, All Flock or Flock Raiser crumbles with a container of oyster shell on the side for the active layers. The mothers will feed the chicks and they should not be fed layer feed.

How many eggs remain unhatched? When are they due?

You need to remove the two hatched chicks that were left behind and tuck them under the hatch mother when she nests down tonight with the one chick that is out of the nest.
The second mother and her brood should be removed when the hatch is over.

If any eggs remain unhatched about 48 hours after the first chick hatches, the mother will likely abandon the nest to raise the chicks.

This is why it's so important to:
A- graft a broody to a ground nest before you give her fertile eggs to hatch and
B- Mark the eggs and give them to her all at once so they all develop at the same rate and hatch within a day of each other so none will be abandoned when the mother leaves the nest to raise the brood.