I decided to let my super broody black austrolorp, Angel, hatch eggs this spring. Unfortunately, the eggs (which I ordered on ebay) never hatched, despite her constantly sitting on them, and even going into lockdown in week three. Several of them actually exploded and it was disgusting.
I ended up buying her two chicks from the feed store to raise. The chicks terrified her when I first introduced her to them. She left the nest and ran clear across the yard as soon as she saw them. After she came back, I tucked the chicks underneath her, and soon she was acting like a good mother, clucking to them and showing them what to eat.
Not including the two chicks, I have five chickens total. Two of them I adopted this winter. It took about two weeks for my original flock to accept the two new chickens. However, when Angel went broody she started perceiving the new chickens as a threat again, and would cluck at them and puff her feathers out and sometimes peck them. One of the new chickens, a buff orpington, had sour crop when I first got her and had a relapse about a month ago. She eventually got better, but she wasn't feeling well for about a week.
During that week, I noticed that she would try to crawl into the same space as my black austrolorp who was still sitting on the eggs. After I got the chick three weeks ago, the buff chicken would still squeeze into the black chicken's space at night. I assumed it was because she was too lazy or tired to fly up to the perch with the other chickens.
A few days ago, I saw them sitting together in their favorite dust hole, and I was surprised to see that the chicks were under the buff chicken, not the black chicken. Since then, this little family has been inseparable, and I've noticed the chicks follow the black chicken and the buff chicken equally, and the buff chicken clucks to them as if they were her own.
When I feed her, she turns and gives whatever treat I just gave her to the chicks, and clucks to them to let them know it's good to eat. They're so adorable together I just had to share it with you all. Also the chicks clearly love both their moms.
