two broodies sharing eggs

[chick-in-florida]

I have two broody hens on one huge nest (at least 20 eggs). it got so huge because other hens were climbing in laying their eggs in the same nest before i came to my senses and blocked it off. the others have been moved but now i'm concerned about what happens when all these eggs hatch. should i move the moms with their nest into a big brooder cage or will that disturb them and risk them leaving the nest. i expect them to hatch in just a couple more days. and what if they don't all hatch at once?

 

[rearrolled]

hay my RIR BANTAM hen was sitting with my polish and some of them hatched at first then the rir bantam was feeding and watering them but the polish kept on sitting then they all hatched and the mums never fighter

 

[rearrolled]

the polish mum is my avatar

 

[Judy]

Usually a mama will stay on the eggs about 24 hours after hatching starts, then abandon the nest to raise the kids. I've had poor luck with moving a broody once she's started to set, though moving a mama and babies has been successful. The mamas evidently are more drawn to stay with chicks than eggs. There is some danger that another hen will try to kill the chicks, or just peck them as part of the pecking order procedures, but mamas are generally very protective of chicks. I've had, I think, 5 broodies hatch eggs, either in with the flock or joining the flock a couple of days after hatch. I had one disaster but I don't know whether this was caused by ants in the nest or a crazy mama; the rest did fine. Currently I have a mama and 7 chicks (100% hatch!) in with the flock, doing fine. I did get her into the broody pen to set. Moving them with their eggs has worked better for me when I've been able to move the whole nest, a plastic bin, with her.

Probably the ideal is to save eggs yourself for hatching, on the kitchen counter, then give them all at once to the broody and put her in a separate pen so no one else bothers the clutch of eggs. They certainly will lay in another's clutch; mamas will also steal others' eggs after starting to set, so the later eggs will probably be abandoned. When I've let a hen set eggs in the coop, I've marked the eggs and checked daily. I find new eggs under her more often than not. Mamas are not happy when you remove their eggs!

All about broodies: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[Judy]

Quote:
What great moms! I've had two take turns both setting eggs and raising chicks, or share these duties, and one took over raising the chicks when the other got killed. You just never know with chickens.

 

[rearrolled]

omg i no my friends Isa browns, he has about a dozen of them and then he just puts fertile eggs in there and because we r in Australia the hens just sat on the eggs at night and in the day they didn't need to sit on them

 

[Stormview]

Broody Hens Can Be Stupid And Stubborn! As Soon As A Hen Or Hens Go Broody I Move Them Out Of The Hen House And Into A Hutch Of There Own With There Own Nest, Sometimes I Put A Couple Of Fake Eggs In There Untill I Have Collected Enough Fresh Eggs To Put Under Her.. That Way U Are Sure Of An Accurate Hatch Date And You Will Have A Higher Percentage Of Happy Healthy Chicks Hatch.

 

[Captain Carrot]

I agree with ddawn, moving a hen with chicks is much easier than a hen with eggs. Wait until they've hatched and then move the hen and chicks. Hopefully you're hen won't fight over the chicks.
I'm pretty sure that the hens will bond over the chicks that hatch only under the hen, and not their neighbor.

Good luck, and post some pics when they hatch

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

These two shared duties, and over the course of a month, a total of 9 chicks hatched out of 11 eggs. The last two eggs were sent with a young friend who accidentally killed them on a heating pad overnite. Here they are sharing duties on the first 7 chicks, and although they tended to leave the rest of the eggs during the day, two more hatched unattended and are fine chickens today. Here's the vid of the two broodies sharing chick duty:

This one, DannyBoy, hatched as number 8 of eleven, 3 weeks after the first chick hatched:

Maybe chickens can be very hardy creatures. I bet you'll have a lot of luck.

One thing I'd do next time, is take the pointy eggs out early. Another BYC poster wrote they have proof those are the rooster babies, and the rounder eggs are hen babies.

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

I had two broody silkies share the duty of sitting on eight eggs. 6 hatched. 1 died early and 1 never formed. We left them in the coop, but we put up a baby gate around them to keep the little chicks from getting to far away from the mommas. The other birds have been able to come and go inside the baby gate, but I have found that they just want to look and see what is going on more than anything else. We are just a little bit over 3 weeks since the hatch and all the babies are strong and healthy. I have eggs in the bator and day old chicks coming the week of march 8th so I will be moving these guys with their moms into the general population right before the new babies come, so I can use the space again. I have another silkie mom that I will be using as a surrogate to them in addition to a brooder light. I did collect all the eggs that were laid in one day, marked them with a non-toxic marker, then gave them to the girls. I quick checked them in the evening before closing up for the night and removed any eggs that were not marked. I did not want to have a staggered hatch, it just makes me feel to stressed.