New chicks !

[lillie2]

Hi we have three eggs under two broody hens,
One hatched on saturday and is now being very well taken care of by two chickie mums. Two of the eggs have not hatched but the hens have been sitting on them with just as much devotion as before ... we got the eggs from a friends hens and they were all at different stages ... how long would you leave them under .. or will the hens decide themselves when to give up ? Also both hens have plucked their front feathers out under their chests ... i'm presuming that this is part of caring for the chick as they are both still bright eyed, alert and apparently healthy am i right in thinking this ?

Thanx

 

[Wildsky]

My broody's eggs were all at the same stage, I removed the unhatched eggs after day 25.

 

[Red]

If you don't know how far apart all the eggs are, i would say leave it up to the hens. They'll be able to hear peeping in the eggs if anything is happening, and wait until any potential chicks hatch out. Our broody waited an extra two days after all the chicks had hatched before abandoning the other eggs

Yes, i've heard that some broodies will pluck feathers from their belly to make / insulate a nest with - I've never had this happen, but i guess that's probably what yours are up to!

Good luck with the other eggs. I've never heard of two broodies sharing a chick before, that's so sweet! I hope they get some more babies too

 

[lillie2]

No more babies i'm afraid but our little one is doing very well. They seem to be really enjoying looking after her .... last night i went out to check on her and the two mummy hens were snuggled up together and i swear one had her wing on the other one ... i srtoked each ones head to say goodnight as i always do to my feathered babies and a little balck head popped out fromm between the two so that i could stroke her two !
Its really amazing how well they are all doing .... she keeps looking up at the mummies before she does anything as if to wait for approval that she is doing it right !

 

[Red]

That's just the cutest thing ever - there is the saying 'two heads are better than one,' so why not two chicken mums are better than one??