Ending chicken Racism?? Coparenting broody hen troubles.

[JustAnotherWeirdo]

I have 2 bantam hens named Glitter (splash) and Sparkle (blue). They’ve been brooding for weeks now and nothing has hatched so when a few hatched in the incubator I tried sneaking 3 underneath the two hens but did an awful job and they saw them. Glitter did not care and happily accepted the 2 white pekins and splash Orpington chick but sparkle got very upset and would peck the chicks and moved to the other side of the nest away from them. 2 or 3 days later more chicks start hatching and I sneak 1 already hatched chick (splash Orpington) and 2 pipped eggs (white pekins and blue Orpington) underneath Sparkle. They then started coparenting after sparkle thought she had finally hatched her own chicks but I noticed glitter would peck the blue one if it got near her but sparkle would interfere and stop her immediately at least. Yesterday I had more chicks hatch and offered them 3 more (1 blue and 2 splash orps) which sparkle happily accepted. A few hours later I went to check on them and noticed how glitter had snatched all the white and splash chicks and was sitting with them while sparkle had the 2 blue ones with her and the same issue of glitter now pecking the blue chicks with every chance she got was still there. Then sadly a few hours later I went outside again and saw the blue one had been pecked to death, unsure wether it was just glitter or both of them but I think the 1st case is way more likely since sparkle was taking such good care of the chick.

I thought of separating them but the coparenting thing makes stuff a bit more complicated so I’m not sure how to exactly do that or if there’s anything else I should try. Glitter has not once pecked one of the white or splash chicks, only the blue ones.

 

[50-45-1]

This squabbling is common with co-parenting with broodies. Sometimes it works out, but in your case it's not.
Sepate them and give whomever the chicks they dont object to.
Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It can be really cute when co-parenting works. Often it does work, but sometimes it is deadly, as you have seen. Each chicken is an individual and can have different personalities and react to situations differently.

This squabbling is common with co-parenting with broodies. Sometimes it works out, but in your case it's not.
Sepate them and give whomever the chicks they dont object to.
Good luck!

I totally agree.

 

[SamLockwood]

They can get up to some weird behaviors. I tried letting the flock hatch and raise some chicks for the first time last year with mixed results.

I had three broodies at one time, the two "beards" (bearded Amercauna / and one of my "silver legbars."

Between them I let them hatch four chicks. "Yellowbeard" hatched first with two chicks. One died for undetermined reasons and the other she raised until the chick was about six weeks old.

"Blackbeard" and the "Silver" hatched about the same time about two weeks after Yellowbeard, but in the first week Blackbeard pecked Silver's chick to death.

Blackbeard proved to be an indifferent mother. She raised her chick for three weeks and then abandoned her one evening. She wouldn't even let the chick roost with her. Silver was still broody and in her nesting box, and the abandoned chick crawled in with her. Silver seemed OK with it so I let the pair be. She raised that chick an inordinately long time: About another six or seven weeks the two were inseparable until Silver had an early molt that summer.

Side note: the two flock-raised hens behave a bit differently than the ones a raised the "normal" way. They were initially more skittish around me, but tend to be much better at obeying warnings from the roosters and seem more aware of threats in their surroundings in general. The youngest hen has actually gotten quite friendly once she started laying.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Blackbeard proved to be an indifferent mother. She raised her chick for three weeks and then abandoned her one evening. She wouldn't even let the chick roost with her.

I've had a couple of hens wean their chicks at 3 weeks of age. I've had some not wean them until they were close to 3 months old. I don't consider any of them to be indifferent mothers, they took great care of them until they weaned them.

I've had hens that when they weaned them they totally cut them off, no further contact allowed. I've had a few that took care of the chicks during the day but would not allow them to roost with her at night. I've had a few that roosted with them at night but had nothing to do with them during the day. Each broody is different, I never know precisely what to expect. But as long as the chicks are able to make their own way with the flock I don't really care. Life is good, the hen has done her job.

I try very hard to never have a single chick with a broody hen. They are fine as long as she is taking care of it. Once it is weaned it is on its own to make its way and that can be hard on a single chick. That may be why Silver kept that chick as long as she did.

 

[JustAnotherWeirdo]

Thank you very much for the help! I thought separation would probably the best solution here but the fact that they’re getting along so well and raising all the others chicks together with no issues made me a bit uncertain wether that’s what I should do and for the for first 2 years or Sparkle’s life she had awful luck with raising chicks where none made it to adulthood and you could see the girly be truly sad each time after they had passed away so taking chicks away from her isn’t ideal but worth it if it means no more will die

Here’s some photos of them with the chicks!!