Is it normal for two hens to go broody together???

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Standard Cochins sharing nearly 30 eggs

 

[lazy gardener]

I had 2 Mallards who shared a nest. Successfully hatched 24/26 eggs. When they all hatched, one Mama took off and left the other one to tend the babies all by herself.

 

[Mary Coleman]

Well I have an update on the broody hens. So my bantam Cochin found her own nest and I gave her 3 eggs. And so I left them to do their thing. Well the next day I checked on them and they had switched nests!!! So the little Cochin bantam was on 8 eggs and the giant australorpe cross was on the 3 bantam eggs hahaha and the next day...... They switched again!!!! I figure that as long as their on a nest they should be happy haha. I moved them to a dog kennel with their nests sitting side by side where they continue to switch nests.

 

[Njinja]

Something happened to day that reminded me of a two-hens-on-one-nest incident I had last year. One of my hens laid a clutch of eggs and was incubating them well. Shortly before they were to hatch, another hen decided to lay her eggs in the same nest. I promptly removed the new eggs.

Now I work away from the house, so I mess with my birds primarily on weekends and early morning and the hour prior to sunset (I live in near the equator so the sun always sets between 6-7 pm.). so when the chicks hatched and their mother took them out for the first time, I checked to make sure all was well. However sometime during the day (as the other members of my family tell it) the other hen started attacking the newly hatched chicks, killing them by pecking at their heads.Ultimately she kills about half of them. One even survived despite a terrible wound on its head.

I bring up the story (and should post it likewise on the Muscovy thread, because yesterday afternoon and again at dawn this morning, a similar thing happened among my Muscovy ducks. I found my three young Muscovy hens attacking a three-month old duckling who had been until recently mothered by a hen (who's now wanting to lay again). The three young adults had the duckling on its back and were pecking at its head. Yesterday afternoon, once I chased the trio of ducks away, the duckling righted itself and skedaddled. This morning, it was noticeably weaker and I had to right it myself. I've now isolated it from the other ducks (as I suspect it was also attacked during the night).

So, I have two questions: 1) What experiences have others had of hens attacking and killing another hen's chicks? And 2) any thoughts on why a trio of ducks will set upon a 3-month old duckling that they've lived with since it was a hatchling?

All my birds live together in a largish walled compound of about 200 square meters behind my house.

 

[Mary Coleman]

Aww I'm sorry to hear. I have aggression problems with my chickens once and a while too. I'm not sure why older birds feel like they have to attack younger ones. Sometimes I think that the only reason they do this is because they want the younger bird to know that they are in charge and they intend it to stay that way. I often have chicks and the male chicks tend to be bullied more than the females. I think it's because the hens know that the roosters will grow to be higher on the pecking order than them. I don't know. Haga. As for the Hurt duckling, whenever I have an injured chick, I bring her inside and give it a Gatorade/ yogurt mixture. The yogurt has vitamins and minerals and the Gatorade has electrolytes for an extra energy boost. It's always worked for me. I just put it in a sarenge and squeeze it onto their beak. Hope my random rambling a helped a little. best of luck!!!