Can two hens share?

[donaltman3]

Hey all. I have an ee Hen that went broody a little over a month ago. After being in there a week I decided maybe I could try to slip some fertile eggs under her and let her hatch some. I have only two hens and no roosters. My other hen had no intrest in what was happening in the coop and stayed outside. I was able to slip 5 eggs I got from a friend under her and all was fine until this week. My other hen has now become broody herself and is “sharing” the eggs. They sit in the one nest area together usually with one of them partially hanging out and a wing on the other. Neither seem upset at each other and both don’t like when we come around. Neither is laying any more and looks like both hbe stopped eating or drinking much. I thought about splitting the two up and putting some additional non fertil eggs under each. I dont want either to fight over being mom when they hatch. Should i leave them to co parent? Not sure I’ve never hatched chicks this is all new to me. Day 21 is this Saturday late night or Sunday

 

[CPT]

I say just let nature take its course! If they are not fighting and seem content sharing the nest, then I'm sure it will be OK. They'll sort it out. Saw this post, too:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/two-broody-hens-sitting-on-the-same-nest.179546/

 

[donaltman3]

Thanks for that article. I think we will just let nature take its course. We have not candled either. Should be an interesting weekend!

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Definitely. I’ve had hens share chicks many times! It’s funny when there’s only one chick and they’re both trying to feed it everything they find. The chick runs back and forth between the two and grows very fast.

Hope your hatch goes well! Let us know how they do.

 

[MillersFarm]

It's possible. I've had turkeys and hens share the same clutch and do just fine

 

[MaryZoe]

I, too, have had hens share chicks often. At the moment I have seven broody hens sitting in five nesting boxes (I only have a total of 6 nesting boxes--oops!), so two of my boxes have double-hens. Plus the boxes are "double wides," separated only by a divider, so often the two hens sitting on either side of the divider will share chicks (as the chicks can go back and forth when they're very small). So now I imagine I will have 3 hens sharing the joy of the chicks that hatch on either side of the divider. Should be amusing!

 

[donaltman3]

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• donaltman3
• Jun 2, 2018

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• donaltman3
• Jun 2, 2018

 

[Abby125]

Hey all. I have an ee Hen that went broody a little over a month ago. After being in there a week I decided maybe I could try to slip some fertile eggs under her and let her hatch some. I have only two hens and no roosters. My other hen had no intrest in what was happening in the coop and stayed outside. I was able to slip 5 eggs I got from a friend under her and all was fine until this week. My other hen has now become broody herself and is “sharing” the eggs. They sit in the one nest area together usually with one of them partially hanging out and a wing on the other. Neither seem upset at each other and both don’t like when we come around. Neither is laying any more and looks like both hbe stopped eating or drinking much. I thought about splitting the two up and putting some additional non fertil eggs under each. I dont want either to fight over being mom when they hatch. Should i leave them to co parent? Not sure I’ve never hatched chicks this is all new to me. Day 21 is this Saturday late night or Sunday

I had a hen sitting on eggs then my duck started on the same nest I would meet a eye on the eggs because my duck kept breaking the eggs I had to keep her out of that pen for two weeks