Two broody hens

[Willie84]

So I have been hatching chickens with my 6 year old Wyandotte called Peppa for a year now, she has successfully hatched 16 out of 36 eggs. We have just had a bad hatch and out of 12 I only had 2 hatch. However, I do have another chicken called flop that is showing signs of being broody. My question is, would it be a bad idea to get flop to sit on another clutch.
At the moment they share the same run, but their coops are separate Peppa is downstairs and Flop would be upstairs. This would also mean having two mothers in the same area with chicks that are roughly 4-5 weeks apart. Is this just asking for trouble?

 

[rebrascora]

As long as they have plenty of space to keep their respective broods out of the way of each other, if they don't get along and more than one feed and water station, they should be fine. I've had hens co-brood and others want their own space. You will need to keep an eye on things when the time comes and have a fall back plan if they can't live in peace.... most will though as long as there is enough food and water to go around.

 

[Diannastarr]

So I have been hatching chickens with my 6 year old Wyandotte called Peppa for a year now, she has successfully hatched 16 out of 36 eggs. We have just had a bad hatch and out of 12 I only had 2 hatch. However, I do have another chicken called flop that is showing signs of being broody. My question is, would it be a bad idea to get flop to sit on another clutch.
At the moment they share the same run, but their coops are separate Peppa is downstairs and Flop would be upstairs. This would also mean having two mothers in the same area with chicks that are roughly 4-5 weeks apart. Is this just asking for trouble?

yes trouble, when having chicks 4-5 weeks apart, maybe separate your hens,& let flop hatch her chicks , i built a broody house so my broody and her chicks would have a quite warm little home & a nice place to grow up in the first few days &

the best part is this broody house can be locked up & also moved with out disturbing the hen, and place in a pen , so the hen & her chicks are safe and can be locked in at night , i found this wooden dog house on line for around $56.00 free shipping and it so far so good..! and the roof is hinged so it opens for easy cleaning and feeding, & i recycled a table top into a door .

 

[bobbieschicks]

I've had many different experiences with multiple broody hens. I've not felt the need to segregate my broodies when my flock was small. Now that I have a larger flock I have considered it and am prepared for it, but so far I haven't needed to do so. With my last successful broody of shipped chicks, I did segregate mom with babies for a time inside a wired dog crate in the main coop but only while a black snake was attacking the flock. Once I dispatched the snake momma and babies were right back to freedom.

Most of the time when I'd have two broody girls they would be so focused on teaching their chicks that there wasn't much time to intermingle. Each broody would get her bunch to follow her somewhere to scratch and peck. Occasionally the groups would merge but only briefly as the moms would quickly hustle their perspective brood off to safety. Any squabbles would be fast and without fatalities.

I've had single broody girls, co-broody girls (a Silkie and Silkie mix who both hatched and raised two little "farm mix" chicks from my own flock), 3 simultaneous broodies (RIR hatched and raised two White Leghorns, Splash Maran who raised 4 shipped EE girls, and a Partridge Silkie who raised 3 shipped Olive egger chicks). And again, I didn't separate them because they separated themselves.

I did provide multiple chick feeding and watering stations. I attempted to micro manage their environments (force them to hang out or sleep in certain segregated areas) but they wouldn't have it.

Once the Silkie was trying to hatch at the same time as the Silkie mix and they kept fighting over the few eggs each had. So when one would leave the nest the other would go steal her eggs. You may encounter something like that. I ended up labeling the eggs to keep track of who had what. But it didn't matter in the end because as it got closer to hatch I shifted eggs to give both an equal amount to hatch.

 

[Willie84]

Thanks for the advice I have decided to give it ago I will have a back up plan if it turns nasty but each chicken has more than double the space it needs. Fingers crossed it all goes well

 

[Diannastarr]

Thanks for the advice I have decided to give it ago I will have a back up plan if it turns nasty but each chicken has more than double the space it needs. Fingers crossed it all goes well

Very Good my original concern was never about the hens they should do fine , but the large difference in the age of the chicks was , the older chicks would be my concern , dont want the younger ones to become punching bags of the older chicks, some one could loose an eye or worse then the hens could fight...?? just a bit of concern about any of that. i had 2 groups of chicks in one brooder one was a week or so older and it was not a good situation , so i separated them right away for the safety of the younger chicks .

 

[rebrascora]

i had 2 groups of chicks in one brooder one was a week or so older and it was not a good situation , so i separated them right away for the safety of the younger chicks .

It's different with broody hens though, as they will keep their chicks away from harm or defend them, so providing the two broodies have enough room to keep their broods separate, there should not be a problem. What is enough space is open to interpretation and if you start having problems then that would suggest you haven't given them enough! Double the area that one broody would find sufficient, is not necessarily enough for two and you have to remember that chicks are growing all the time, so it's not just two hens in that area..... By the time you get to them being cast off at 6-8 weeks, that space may have started feeling pretty cramped, so it needs continual assessment.

 

[Diannastarr]

It's different with broody hens though, as they will keep their chicks away from harm or defend them, so providing the two broodies have enough room to keep their broods separate, there should not be a problem. What is enough space is open to interpretation and if you start having problems then that would suggest you haven't given them enough! Double the area that one broody would find sufficient, is not necessarily enough for two and you have to remember that chicks are growing all the time, so it's not just two hens in that area..... By the time you get to them being cast off at 6-8 weeks, that space may have started feeling pretty cramped, so it needs continual assessment.

im glad to hear this , since i would not take the risk ive never had 2 broodies with different age chicks rooming in together , but i guess its the amount of space that is the major point.! since i would usually just give each of them their own space , good to know that you say its the amount of room that is the key here to a good ending & success in this type of circumstance, but how much room would that be if the hens were confined together..? thats the kind of information for all of us to know, very good.!

 

[rebrascora]

When I had multiple broodies with different aged chicks they free ranged, so whilst they stayed close to the coop, there was unlimited space to move away into if need be. One broody might be fine with a few square feet on her own but given a larger area, might want all of it for herself and her chicks and not be prepared to share the larger space. It will come down to individual hen personalities and ensuring that there are enough facilities to satisfy both hens. Having a back up plan is critical with these situations.

 

[Diannastarr]

When I had multiple broodies with different aged chicks they free ranged, so whilst they stayed close to the coop, there was unlimited space to move away into if need be. One broody might be fine with a few square feet on her own but given a larger area, might want all of it for herself and her chicks and not be prepared to share the larger space. It will come down to individual hen personalities and ensuring that there are enough facilities to satisfy both hens. Having a back up plan is critical with these situations.