I wonder if that is why Penelope and Blanche never have gone broody - Sophia while I was surprised went broody, I often wondered why she didn't, she would sit for hours on a hoard of eggs, all day in fact. But Blanche and Penelope are definitely the Boss Mares here - they both rule equally and are very good rulers. Tolerant of the chicks, and do not go out of their way to harass the other chickens.I say I have no favorites between these 2 girls because I think when it is all settled and the drama dies down they would be very similar in how they lead the flock. Holly is older, but only by 8ish months, but in my mind the senior hen should take the top spot. What I find odd is both girls are chronic broodies. Butter never went broody. I wonder if once it is settled will they no longer go broody. I really could have saw Squirrel be a better leader to be honest. Same demeaner as her mother, never been broody a day in her life and if she had stuck it out probably been as fair as Butter was. She was holding her own against Holly. Raven trounced her. Then both Raven and Holly teamed up to trounce her to fully get the message across. Now it is just down to the 2 hard heads. Holly has been waiting in the wings gunning for this spot for a while now. Raven is sneaky, always a trouble maker from day 1 and in truth also trying to build herself up to this position. If the eventual winner never goes broody again that also throws me into a tough spot. Both are excellent mothers and while I am done with broody hens at the moment I do not wish to loose either one. For that reason alone if I had to loose one I would prefer it to be Holly. I know Raven adopts chicks, never tried it with Holly. Raven has done it twice, and hangs onto her chicks about 2 weeks longer then Holly naturally does.
Oh I hope I didn't just jinx myself and those two go broody on me, I have Whiskers in there being a broody girl, but at least she doesn't cause any problems and doesn't pick fights. She just runs around like a crazed lunatic a few times a day screaming, will have a bite to eat, a drink and run back to whichever nest box has eggs in it hahaha. She's a wily one, I have to constantly check to make sure she isn't sitting on eggs.