Simultaneously looking after chick and brooding 6 eggs

[Lids]

I feel I am experiencing something unique.
I bought 5 broiler day old chicks. I put them with a mama with 4-day-old chicks, since they were about the same size. Specks, my Boschvelder hen instantly accepted them as did her little chicks. But when she started assessing them, she saw that they weren't up to the level of her chicks and a real liability. Our chickens walk free and there are many predators, like raptors, monkeys and monitor lizards. So she started culling them. I managed to rescue one, the littlest.

I also have a mama who had been sitting on eggs for only 4 days. (17 to go, which is a looong time.) I put Horalce with her. She accepted him immediately. Every day I think she might abandon her nest, but every day she surprises me. It is now day 12 and she has a week to go till hatch. She will have a 17-day-old giant when her other six are hatching!
Specks went to visit Ms.Marple and tried to get her to leave the nest, or to entice Horalce to join her. But he loves his mama. And Ms. M knows her eggs are viable and just need more time.

Has anybody experienced a similar thing?

I will try to keep you all updated. I am monitoring things very closely.

 

[JaeG]

What an awesome broody you have there.

I had a bantam hen sitting on quail eggs. I knew fertility wouldn't be great as that group were getting old, and when I candled only one was developing. So I added some fresh quail eggs to my hen's stash. One quail chick hatched out, but that hen kept sitting for another full week until the only other surviving quail egg hatched as well.

A good broody is worth more than her weight in gold.

 

[Lids]

What an awesome broody you have there.

I had a bantam hen sitting on quail eggs. I knew fertility wouldn't be great as that group were getting old, and when I candled only one was developing. So I added some fresh quail eggs to my hen's stash. One quail chick hatched out, but that hen kept sitting for another full week until the only other surviving quail egg hatched as well.

A good broody is worth more than her weight in gold.

And to think i thought she was a terrible parent (she is very competitive and greatly desires to be top lady--which will always be Speckles--sometimes at the expense and comfort of her chicks) and wanted to sell her!
Chickens continue to amaze and stun me, humble me and educate me!
❤ ❤

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Super Mamma!!!
Good broodies are hard to find. I have one, she sat for 5 whole weeks because I had to replace the eggs (all infertile) on the 2nd week! She was a great mother.
I know someone else who's hen killed a chick and badly injured 2, one died after. Right after they hatched.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

At least the hatchlings will have a cool, older sibling!

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Please keep us updated... I'd love to know how the hatch goes!

 

[Lids]

Super Mamma!!!
Good broodies are hard to find. I have one, she sat for 5 whole weeks because I had to replace the eggs (all infertile) on the 2nd week! She was a great mother.
I know someone else who's hen killed a chick and badly injured 2, one died after. Right after they hatched.

Chickens can be very harsh sometimes. But mostly they are awesome!
What is your's called?

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Chickens can be very harsh sometimes. But mostly they are awesome!
What is your's called?

Pippin. She went broody 5 times before I finally gave her 2 eggs, turned out they were both infertile. The new eggs, 6 polish eggs, arrived on the 2nd week of her broodiness. But she stayed on the nest until she had 3 little babies!

She "let go" of them at around 8wks old, so she could spend more time with her boyfriend. But her and her sister always look out for them

 

[Lids]

Pippin. She went broody 5 times before I finally gave her 2 eggs, turned out they were both infertile. The new eggs, 6 polish eggs, arrived on the 2nd week of her broodiness. But she stayed on the nest until she had 3 little babies!
View attachment 2816325
She "let go" of them at around 8wks old, so she could spend more time with her boyfriend. But her and her sister always look out for them

A delightful story!
I had to go look up Polish Chicken. Pippin looks a lot Polish?

 

[PippinTheChicken]

A delightful story!
I had to go look up Polish Chicken. Pippin looks a lot Polish?

She's a silkie