Two hens brooding the same hatch?

[riftnreef]

Strangest thing...I have two Serama hens sharing a nest box. The first has been brooding for a good two and half weeks or so now, the other has been in there for a week now. They seem very content to share the box and brooding duties. The second hen is VERY young...to the point that she just started laying, and in my opinion may very well just be brooding to get a break from the roos! Still a sight to see though, two moms sitting on the same batch of eggs...I'm curious to see if they even hatch as much time as they have spent pushed out from the origional broody.

 

[asher]

I have had hens try to do that before and I separated them out of inexperience, but my aunt had the same thing happen and let them stay together. She said they were the BEST moms...even though they only ended up hatching out one chick. It was too funny watching the hens clucking around together with this spoiled little chick.

 

[Raven1]

All my birds tag team hatch Peahens, Turkeys, Large and Bantam hens and yes they mother together also so god help anything coming between TWO hen and their peeps

 

[lanietx]

i have it happen often, especially with my silkies!
i had it happen recently with 2 dove pair too

 

[Marlaina]

I have two bantams doing this right now!

 

[sourland]

If the hens get along and don't fight over the eggs, it can be fine. Frequently hens will steal one another's eggs causing eggs to become chilled or cracked. Just as one bad apple can ruin the barrel, one bad egg can spoil the clutch. In my experience hens sharing a nest results in a lower hatch rate.

 

[riftnreef]

To be honest I have too many birds already...I know, hard to imagine, I just got tired of watching these birds brooding empty boxes so I gave her some eggs for kicks hoping that Serama chicks would be pretty easy to give away....ergo I'm not to worried about hatch rates. If nothing else it's giving them a break from laying and mating so they might look a little better for fair after they get fattened back up after brooding. Interesting to know that this is not an uncommon occurance though...thanks all.

 

[glenolam]

I've had a duck and chicken share the same nest as well as silkie and RIR chicken

The only thing you want to be sure of is that they aren't overheating the eggs. Two bodies creates a lot more heat than 1...

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Just had this same thing happen with my serama girls. They're awesome co-mommies! They hatched 3 little chickies. Molly does all the forage teaching, Mandee is the warming hen, the hen that the chicks run under to get warm.

Here they are brooding before hatch.

Here they are the day of hatch. Molly is still sitting on one last egg waiting for it to hatch.

Here they are on their first day out of the loft coop. As you can see, Molly (the yellow hen) is teaching them to forage.