Two hens taking turns on a single nest?

[duckncover]

Okay so I bought Henny and Penny about 2 months ago since I only ended up with 2 hens out of my first hatch and once I realized it could be mid october before my own birds will start laying I found them. I noticed about 3 days ago Penny has been sitting in the nestbox on the 4 ceramic eggs I put in there and adding her own into the mix. Now this morning I seen her out of the coop hanging out with the others, I was kinda bummed but I opened up the box and there is Henny sitting on the eggs in her place. Somtime after they switched off and again later today. Is this normal behavior? I think it's awesome. I have two of their chicks that I incubated siting on my shoulders now and 8 more eggs due to hatch tomorrow.

It would be so awesome to see the mother-chick interactions up close and in person. I see videos online of people giving the broody hen eggs and they actually seem to take them. Is this a real thing? Would they possibly accept eggs from a different breed of chicken while broody if thats the case? Is it likely that checking on them will result in them abandoning the nest? Lastly if it turns out to be way to cold by the time the babies hatch is there any way to move mom and babies to a safe warm location without breaking her motherly instincts? Sorry if these questions have obvious answers. I'm a lifetime chicken lover that has just became able to have my own chickens.

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't think they are broody, they might be thinking about it, but not real likely this time of year, but I have had a hen go broody and hatch out chicks in October, and raised up those chicks in weather that dropped to NEGATIVE 20 degrees. So it can happen, but I have had chickens since 2007 and only had it happen once.

It is very common for hens to pick a nest, and everyone decide to lay in that nest, even though there are perfectly fine nests right next to this. And it is normal for them to stick with this nest for weeks, and then all of sudden, decide the third one over IS THE place to lay. They are crazy. I think that is what you have going on.

Once you have a true broody - a bird not roosting at night, but stuck to a nest, kind of flat with feathers pulled out of her chest, growling and puffing up when you get close-she will try and hatch anything, duck eggs, rocks and of course chicken eggs of any breed, color or size.

Moving a broody hen, is hotly contested on this sight. Many people do and swear by it, many people don't and swear by that too. I have tried it both ways, and wound up in a wreck when I moved her. So if I get a broody hen, I let them do it their way. I do not bother them at all, and I fully understand that not all the eggs will hatch, and not all the chicks will live. But the ones that do will be healthy. I can live with that, others cannot.

Hope that helps, I do agree with you, nothing is more fun than a broody hen with chicks.
If you don't have a rooster, and you get a broody hen, you can slip live chicks under her around 2-3 weeks of being broody.

If by some strange magic she or they are broody, it would be better to wait at least a couple of days before giving them eggs. To make really sure they are broody.

Mrs K

 

[duckncover]

I don't think they are broody, they might be thinking about it, but not real likely this time of year, but I have had a hen go broody and hatch out chicks in October, and raised up those chicks in weather that dropped to NEGATIVE 20 degrees. So it can happen, but I have had chickens since 2007 and only had it happen once.

It is very common for hens to pick a nest, and everyone decide to lay in that nest, even though there are perfectly fine nests right next to this. And it is normal for them to stick with this nest for weeks, and then all of sudden, decide the third one over IS THE place to lay. They are crazy. I think that is what you have going on.

Once you have a true broody - a bird not roosting at night, but stuck to a nest, kind of flat with feathers pulled out of her chest, growling and puffing up when you get close-she will try and hatch anything, duck eggs, rocks and of course chicken eggs of any breed, color or size.

Moving a broody hen, is hotly contested on this sight. Many people do and swear by it, many people don't and swear by that too. I have tried it both ways, and wound up in a wreck when I moved her. So if I get a broody hen, I let them do it their way. I do not bother them at all, and I fully understand that not all the eggs will hatch, and not all the chicks will live. But the ones that do will be healthy. I can live with that, others cannot.

Hope that helps, I do agree with you, nothing is more fun than a broody hen with chicks.
If you don't have a rooster, and you get a broody hen, you can slip live chicks under her around 2-3 weeks of being broody.

If by some strange magic she or they are broody, it would be better to wait at least a couple of days before giving them eggs. To make really sure they are broody.

Mrs K

Well we will have to wait and see. It's raining out right now and both of the hens are sitting side by side in the nest box. Everyone else is still deciding if they want to leave the branches in the run and come inside. I put my hand in to see if they would be upset and both of them are growling and trying to peck at me which normally these two just run from me. It hasn't been cold nights here yet so I'm not sure if they can tell its going to get freezing shortly or not.

You said duck eggs but what about quail eggs? They are serama (probably mixed but tiny) so its not too much smaller than their eggs they have in there.

 

[musikfan]

All mine use the same nesting box. I have two but they insist on using the one. And then one day out of nowhere, they will decide to use the other one. I've already seen one laying in the box and another will walk right almost on top of her and try to get in the same place! They are crazy!

 

[aart]

Are they in the nest all night?

 

[duckncover]

Last night they were yes. Together lol. The younger two hens didn't go in the coop last night but thats a seperate thing to address lol

 

[aart]

Last night they were yes

If not on nest all night, they aren't broody.
You should mark the eggs they have under them so you can daily remove any new eggs that are laid in the nest.

 

[duckncover]

So it turns out Henny was not broody. Just Penny. She is still currently sitting on the eggs. I have a concern. I noticed that Henny stopped laying eggs until I found out she is contributing to Penny's nest. Lifted up Penny to take a look at the eggs and it looks like the pullets are laying now as well...in her nest that shes sitting on. I am dumb and didn't mark the eggs so I assume just about every single egg in that nest is from a different day. I'm also going to guess this will mess up the hatch very badly lol. If I candle them and take pictures can anyone help me group the eggs by development age and tell me which ones to bring inside to put in the bators? I have 3 incubators ready to go. 2 nuture right 360 and one brinsea mini ii advance. I was hoping to let her hatch at least some of the chicks since I've been having a terrible experience trying to hatch them myself with lots of late quitters.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

So it turns out Henny was not broody. Just Penny. She is still currently sitting on the eggs. I have a concern. I noticed that Henny stopped laying eggs until I found out she is contributing to Penny's nest. Lifted up Penny to take a look at the eggs and it looks like the pullets are laying now as well...in her nest that shes sitting on. I am dumb and didn't mark the eggs so I assume just about every single egg in that nest is from a different day. I'm also going to guess this will mess up the hatch very badly lol. If I candle them and take pictures can anyone help me group the eggs by development age and tell me which ones to bring inside to put in the bators? I have 3 incubators ready to go. 2 nuture right 360 and one brinsea mini ii advance. I was hoping to let her hatch at least some of the chicks since I've been having a terrible experience trying to hatch them myself with lots of late quitters.

You might want to post a new thread in the section for incubating and hatching for more help with that.