I lost my favorite hen yesterday and am crushed as she was such an amazing broody. Last month she hatched two of her own eggs. About three days later I had bator babies hatch and she lovingly accepted those as well. Within the next week to week and a half she accepted even more bator babies that I place with her. In all she ended up with 20 babies from four different hatches that span two weeks. (lost three babies so she actually ended up with 17) She was amazing the way she loved babies. My daughter told me I should have named her Angelina Jolie because she didn't care what age, size or color her chicks were. She took excellent care of all her babies and was a very attentive mother. All of her babies survived so I am guessing she died to protect her chicks. I am surely gonna miss my Rachel. She was one in a million!
