One chick, two moms

[mamasnowwolf]

Hi guys,
We have a mom hen that has been sitting on a clutch of eggs for about 3 weeks now. As of Thursday, one hen decided to crawl into the nesting box with her. No idea why. This is a popular box with the hens, but still. Anyway, This morning, a chick hatched. Now we have at least one chick (so far) with two moms. I hope the poor thing doesn't get squished. If I knew which bird was the real mom, I'd kick one out, but I can't tell.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They may both be now. You don't know what they are thinking. Some hens aren't inclined to raise a family till there is a ready made one. It isn't like with mammals where everyone knows who their children are. Any hen may incubate any hens' eggs. That is the truth in birds. I once had 8 pullets that decided to all go broody at the same time in a community nest. After stealing each other's eggs, only one chick hatched. All 8 tried to mother the chick. Each one calling the chick to and fro. I wish I had kept track of it as it grew to see if it ended up being psychotic.
Perhaps the new hen got the urge. The original hen will soon take the chick out to eat and drink. That is the first mother. It is possible, if eggs are left, the other will take over sitting.
Were all eggs set at the exact same time?

 

[mamasnowwolf]

An update. The original mom hatched 3 eggs, and left the nest. Another bird hatched 1 of the 2 eggs left behind. Not sure what happened to the 2nd egg. It just wasn't there when I went to look. Anyway, I was worried because the last bird hatched seemed to be ignored. It was alone in the coop crying while the other 3 and all the adults were outside. I placed it under the coop with the other chicks and hens, threw some scratch and it took a couple of days, but it seems that all 4 are now getting along. There is still a fight among moms. There's a hen that was born last year that watches the chicks, the hen that hatched the eggs, and on occasion, there is another hen that steps in. My biggest problem now is the chicks and hens seem content to nest under the coop at night. We have to crawl under there and put them up into the coop. I may consider leaving them over night, but we have had an exceptionally wet year and it rains almost every night. I know the birds would all get wet because it's always wet under the coop with high winds driving rain in every direction.