Hi, We have a broody Silkie and a broody glw. Both are sitting on 5 eggs; the Silkie is on bantam eggs and the glw is on regular-sized eggs. We have a way to separate the hens from the rest of the flock to hatch their chicks, and a "nursery" set up for when the babies arrive, but the current setup allows both hens and their chicks access to the same area. Do we need to completely separate the hens from each other as well? The Silkie is the lowest in the pecking order; will the GLW go after her chicks once they hatch? Or is it okay to keep two mamas and their babies all together? Any advice is welcome! Thanks!!
If there is plenty of room they will be OK. When chicks are the same age my serama and silkies team up to coparent all the chicks together. This does not happen when the chicks are a different age. I'd try putting them together and observe their behavior closely. My hens have no problem sharing a 10x15 coop even when three hens have chicks of different ages.
My experience is a little different. Plenty of people do have positive experiences with multiple broodies, either working together to hatch the eggs or raise the chicks. Or they totally ignore each other and each other’s eggs and chicks. But one time I had two different broodies in two different nests in the coop. When one broody’s chicks internal pipped and started chirping inside the egg before external pip, the other broody fought to take over the eggs. Half the eggs were destroyed, and each had a living chick in it. I don’t know what your coop looks like or what your overall facilities look like, but I’d consider isolating the broodies from each other. I regularly let my broody hens hatch in the coop with the rest of the flock, I’ve never had a problem with any other chicken except for that one broody doing that, but maybe you could come up with something else since you seem to be concerned about that. No one can give you any guarantees as to how a living animal will react. You may be absolutely find doing what you are planning, but there are risks no matter what you do with living animals. Good luck!
