two hens one nest?

[Ash1089]

Hi everyone! I went down to my coop this morning, and my broody hen (i'm not sure what she is, but she doesn't lay her own eggs she just sits on everyone elses) was sitting on a nest in the corner. Normally she keeps everyone else at bay. I have a pen 18'x18' with an inside house of 14'x6'. I have a trio of millie fluers duccles a pair of khaki campbells and what i thought was a pair of frizzles. The broody hen is sharing her nest with what I thought was a frizzle rooster. He has spurs. The broody hen will sit two days and a night, then she gets up and the frizzle rushes over and sits for two days and a night. I tried to take a peak and candle the eggs, however when one makes that growl noise, the other comes tearing in like shes on fire. Is this normal behavior? The broody hen never shares. Last month she took over the khaki nest and sucessfully hatched 12 of 12. She mothers them until they are about two week old, then shes off to search for another nest.

Can I let them take turns or should i seperate them?

Thanks in advance,
Ash

 

[my sunwolf]

If the frizzle is really a rooster, I'd be concerned and would not let them set eggs. But some hens do have spurs, and I have had hens take turns on the nests like that. That is definitely normal and as long as both hens are good moms. Right now I have 3 broody hens who all sat on a nest sharing a clutch of 6 babies.

Post some photos of the rooster and we'll see if he's actually a rooster!