Hens sharing chicks (pic added)

[doramechicks]

Ok so I had one broody hen(Wanda) who has been doing all the work and sitting on 12 eggs, they started to pip yesterday and another hen(Lucky) went into the nesting box right next to Wanda and would not leave all day yesterday and lastnight. Went to check on things this morning and there were 5 hatched chicks under Wanda and Lucky was still also sitting in the nest box right next to Wanda, tried to get her up she didn't want to & ran right back in there. Later today I go out and the chicks(now 10 of them) are running back and forth between the two hens and even going under Lucky, is this normal for them to be sharing chicks like this?

Wanda left & Lucky right

 

[gryeyes]

Well, while it's not the norm, it's not all that ABNORMAL for hens to share chicks. Honest!

Love the photo... thanks so much for sharing.

 

[SIMPleChick]

LOL! SO CUTE!!!! But poor Wanda, I think if you treat them, for raising the babies, you should always give Wanda double!! Look at Lucky just sitting there, getting all the chickey love and trying to NOT look guilty!!! HAHAHA

 

[poseygrace]

That is so sweet!!! I love it. I agree that Wanda should get double treats for all that work.

 

[justtoni44]

Iive had this happen several time.althought the second hen helped sit them.
Last year two cuckoo marans setting eggs next to each other............then they shared chicks,but at bed time the chicks
went to the appropriate Mom to get tucked in.
I currently have three hens sharing eggs and a fourth that sits the eggs for about an hour or so during the day when the others
take care of business.........don't know what to e expect at hatch time.........

Who needs TV..............

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote:
LOL, she does look like she's trying to not look guilty! This is SO cute!

 

[In His Service]

I have 5 Buff orpington hens. One hatched 9 chicks. One of the others is what we call Mom 2, and now I believe all the others are taking turns being Aunts. (of course who knows which one are the biological moms

 

[stuckinthecity]

Oh my gosh I LOVE this picture so much.

 

[centrarchid]

Arrangement cute to human eyes but far from ideal in respect to needs of chicks. Whens will have conflicts about where to go, when feed and when to brood. Chicks more likely to be trampled. When this occurs in my birds, survival rate of chicks lower than if raised by a single hen.

 

[Gerry2011]

Years ago I had 2 little reds that shared one nest. Between the 2 they hatched out about 18 chicks (oh, and 1 was a duckling!!). There never were any problems (except when the duckling discovered the pond!!), they just took care of them. Not necessarily together nor were the chicks evenly distributed between them at any given time. Then one day the hen the duckling was with wandered down by the pond and zooooommm ducky went straight into the water....that poor little hen about had a stroke!!!

She stomped back and forth along the bank screaming and swearing like a fishwife for him to get out of there before he drowned. Li'l ducky just kept on swimming and eventually she gave up on him and went on.

I thought I'd die laughing at her.