Hen behavior

[TammyC57]

This is a first for me! I've never had a hen go broody until now & I allowed her to sit on 2 eggs. One hatched yesterday, so cute! Here's my question: For 2 days another hen hasn't left the coop, she looks like she's guarding over the mother & chick.. They are in the coop but in a separate area so she could work in peace. (The other hens continued to lay their eggs in the same nesting box every day, until I moved her.. 2 days before hatching) What is this hen doing? Is she just extremely curious? Seriously, she doesn't leave.. I haven't read anything about this. Thanks for your input!

 

[Dmontgomery]

I'm a little confused. Were the other hens laying in the nesting box where the new mother was hatching, then you just removed the other eggs?
I have 2 OEGB hens that tend to go broody together and co-parent eggs. They take turns sitting on the nest and everything. They usually share mother chores with the baby chicks until weaning, it's really cute. Maybe that's what she has planned if the mama will go along with it. Or she could just be nosy.

 

[TammyC57]

Yes, they continued to lay in the nesting box where my broody was setting. I'd remove the new eggs daily, I had hers marked.. I've only had the other hen for about 4 mos.. she hasn't gone broody. Yeah, maybe she wants to co-parent!