MY HENS ARE SHARING A NEST OF EGGS!

[frankie5316]

My two hens are sitting on eggs in the same nest! is that OK? WILL THEY SHARE THE CHICKS!?

 

[BirdBoy88]

There was someone on here a while ago that had the samething happen and both hens hatch out chicks but i'm not sure what happen after that... maybe he will come along and see your thread and give you more info or someone else who has went through this

 

[MarylandChick]

I have two hens on 1 nest. The first chick hatched today. I don't know what will happen. So far they have been ideal. They never both leave the nest for very long or at the same time.

 

[sussexgal]

This summer my two hens made a clutch together and both sat the nest. The one who did the most tending like rolling the eggs prior to sitting was not the one who hatched the little fuzzies out. But... one did the pre-sitting work like rolling the eggs a few times a day and the other did a majority of the sitting to hatch the little fuzzies out. When the sitter would get off the nest to go forage and stretch her legs, the roller would sit until she came back. They have made quite a tag team

The sitter who hatched the nest is the one who is rearing the chicks. She is an excellent mother with a 100% free range survival rate at 3 weeks. Chickens are such a hoot!

 

[chiknlady]

I have two black cochin bantams that are sharing a nest, but not the eggs. Yesterday One had about 14 eggs and today she was only sitting on 3--it would appear that the other mother stole some of the eggs when she got up...It will be interesting to see how this all turns out when the chicks come...as the first hen has been sitting longer. They are a hoot! The reality is both are sitting on everyone else's egg to begin with--RIR, EE, Cochin, so chances are they are only surrogates anyway...

 

[Momo]

When I was a kid we had a few EE sisters who would often double up on a nest. I recall more than once there would be two hens sitting on the eggs, and they shared the rearing of the chicks too; sometimes one would have more of the chicks throughout the day and sometimes the other. It seemed very civilized and was very cute.