showgirl chick being mama for smaller silkie chick

[cosmic chicken]

i am curious if anyone has had a chick play protective mama for a smaller chick. we got 5 chicks, all different breeds, 2 weeks ago from a local person. all of them ranged from less than a week old to maybe 2 weeks old (guessing here by feather development). from the get go the showgirl has been a protective mama to the small silkie chick, from covering her to blocking the other chicks from going near her when they are hopping. she will do the same blocking and hopping in defense of the also smaller maran chick as well.

ii am also wondering if we get 1 more of each of the same breeds so we will have a total of 2 each, if this will disrupt this dynamic or if our showgirl will be defender of any new smaller ones...

 

[realsis]

She might defend the little ones it just might be her nature. I had a 8 week old cockerel who let my three week old chicks sleep under him! For the longest I thought it was a female. He loved and mothered my chicks. It was adorable
They were all the same breed silkies.sadly when he crowed I had to re home him because I can't have roosters where I live but yes he was the best mother ever!

 

[cosmic chicken]

She might defend the little ones it just might be her nature. I had a 8 week old cockerel who let my three week old chicks sleep under him! For the longest I thought it was a female. He loved and mothered my chicks. It was adorable
They were all the same breed silkies.sadly when he crowed I had to re home him because I can't have roosters where I live but yes he was the best mother ever!

true! it is so neat to see her/him (no way to know yet) stand all wide legged between poof (the silkie) and any of the larger chicks! or her/him bouncing over an doing the hop hop thug dance with a "what do you think you're going to do" puff up and hop!

it is so sad you had to rehome your little mothering guy.