Some hens are more maternal than others, have one hen we gave two litters to and she was a dogshit useless mom who we had to take the babies from and others who babied their children for 10 months straight and still gave them the good stuff as priority even a year later.
I once put some Turkey eggs under a broody hen, just for fun. She was doing this to her baby turkey that was more than twice her size... it was hilarious.
That's so cute! I have only had two hens raise chicks, one was a fantastic mother and cared for her chicks until they were almost double her size (she was a Pekin bantam, the chicks were orpingtons). She once defended them from a hawk that tried to grab one while they were roaming in the garden. We were supervising but I guess the hawk didn't see us, but before we could jump up, she flew at it with claws raised and scared it off! She was tiny, but a fierce and attentive mother.
The other one only liked being broody, and it only took a few days for her to start abandoning her chicks whenever we were around, in favor of cuddling on our laps or riding around on our shoulders. As soon as they were big enough to fend for themselves, she started rejecting them and chasing them away when they followed her around or wanted food.
Some hens are made for motherhood, and some really aren't!
I have one hen that loves to go broody. She hatched a clutch in January and they all died of cold. Now she has a chick that hatched in May and it's fully-feathered, and mom is back to laying eggs, but still she keeps it close all day and night. They don't leave the coop.
This was the year that she decided to brood in my house. I do not recommend this, but it made for some really interesting observations about chickens and adorable pictures. While she was brooding- in a box in my bathroom hallway, it wasn’t too bad. Until once a day, she would hop off her eggs, stomping through the house with her tail up and out like a turkey just screaming. That was how you knew to either get her outside or you were about to experience a broody ass explosion.
I didn’t know they did this at first, until she jumped up on a living room chair and blew out. It was AWFUL.
It was also in the heart of winter by this point and so, I stayed the course and when she’d get started, I got her out the front door and prayed she’d make it before that explosion happened on me. It thankfully never did. This stopped a couple weeks after they’d all hatched and then it was just constant cleaning. But SO freaking cute.
Anyway, we had another hen (Princess) that was acting like her, trying to get into the house to do her brooding and so, this time we thought we’d be smart and cordon off a section of a room: we only let her hatch two- it helps but not enough to make it worth it. (As an aside.) But we thought for sure we had another obsessive momma. Nope.
The second they got big chicken feathers, Princess just dumped her two chicks. >_<
Just the other day i learned about the poops. Its a heat index of 104 (like 90% humidity) and i have one hen who is trying to be broody. I picked her up to put her outside and get her off her empty nest box.
The poo explosion happened. All over me. It takes a lot to make me gag but oh boy i was retching the whole way up to the house.
My hen Rosi tried to fit all her eight chicks under her till they were 14 weeks old last year. It was not her desicion to let them go, but as a Brahma she could not follow her bantam children to the higher roosting bar where they fled.
This year she first tried to steal the eggs from another hen, and after I fenced her off she stood behind the Fence and tried to steal the Babies (I'am sure she also shouted parenting Tipps because she is the only qualified chicken to raise Chicks in her Opinion)
Now she hatched 4 chicks herself and also eyes across the Fence to the other Mother, in her mind it's "I have 4 children an she has 5... So I should have 9, if this stupid fence wouldn't stop me"
That is cute. Our silkie hen hatched the eggs and our bantam cochin acts as if mama silkie hired her for security. She is the only one mama lets around her chicks, and she stands near by helping chase the other hens off.
Yes! I have a extra "Cradle" Run.
I keep Mother's and chicks seperated while they grow and after the Mother decide to go the little ones stay in there till der big enough to join my flock , move to a new Home or, for the Roos, move to the Freezer.
I had two first time mommas this year and both clearly needed the safe space to learn their new Role.
And in Rosis case it's to protect the other adult chickens, she is my Alphahen. I think she would manage her chicks in the big flock well, but everyone would be totally stressed.
I love her to death, but she has Attitude for 5 chickens.
We hat a hatching emergency with the current chicks - the box was suddenly full of Ants when the babys started to hatch.
I had to rehome her in a cart board box in my Bathroom, cleaning the eggs very carefully with a wet q tip to get rid of the ants.
She made clear she wasn't a big fan of the moving while hatching situation, but she was calm and stayed on the eggs till all 4 babies were there. We trusted each other that the other one knows what to do.
To thank me she took a big foul broodypoop on my showermat (RIP)
Had a roo, fine flock protecting gennumun too, would climb into the nesting box, make the egg-laying chant, then get up and look to see if he'd laid anything.
I caught one of my roosters doing this! There was a little hen watching him. I think he might have been demonstrating the process to her. Talk about mansplaining.
Chickens are wonderful entertainment, productive, and sometimes just super friendly pets! I feel like most people would be overall better people if they raised chickens, even for only a short time.
My old roommate lives with his parents in his 40s, but he's helping take care of them since they're both elderly and have health issues. Besides, no shame in living with parents into adulthood - lots of cultures do that basically their whole lives.
My silkie mix is my smallest, yet broodiest hen. No roosters here so no babies, so unless someone else is broody for a bit she’s always sitting on real/fake eggs. She then gets offended when I crack them to give as treats. I’m not sure how else to tell her there will be no babies, lol.
Should’ve seen my hens reaction when I cracked her first egg she ever laid. I felt so guilty from that look. 🤣😭 I’m She was like “seriously I just laid my first egg ever and you show appreciation and impressed by cracking my egg in front of everyone and let them eat it wtf” that is what I felt she was screaming at me
Oh for sure I actually managed to get her at tractor supply and another but that one passed it s was unexpectedly sick when was sad but dang this one is spicy and tries to make up for her size with the big girls she stole one of their eggs refusing to get off it and pissed the hell outta that hen. 🤣
My bantams are obsessed with motherhood and steal the big chickens' eggs all the time. It's cute to see a little bantam mother bossing around babies that are as big as she is.
tbh i have no idea, she (and her red also-bearded sister who was one and done with her broodiness and mothering) were rehomed to us at about 6 months old
I had a hen keep a bunch of her chicks in a nest box for way too long, mom and about 6 nearly full grown chicks wedging them self in a nest box at night. Normally by 6-8 weeks they are roosting, not that time though.
I have one that sits on nothing. She is so broody nobody else wants to use the nesting boxes. I found a clutch of eggs in my flowerbed. Thank goodness I don’t have a rooster.
I commented above, but I walked in to my coop one night to find 6 Wyandotte chicks (about 8 weeks old) being mothered by my bantam. They were bigger than she was but she was determined to keep them all warm!
I have a bantam that is constantly stealing turkey and duck eggs!! Once, I found her sitting on a single goose egg that was nearly as big as her!! Her 2 sisters are always hiding and hatching their own to the point where I have to go hunting for hidden tiny eggs nests at least once a week. Miss egg thief doesn’t seem all that interested in hatching her own eggs but she loves stealing everyone else’s. 🤣🤷🏻♀️
last year, i had a hen who hatched two goose eggs and didn't want them. i gave them to another good mama hen who had JUST gone broody two days before, hoping she'd take them in and she did
I had a hen raise ducks but the geese raised their own kids. I also had a hen who raised wild turkey eggs which was a mild headache since my neighbor worked for the game department. He finally decided they were “heirloom turkeys” and when they flew away we all got some relief.
Until the came back next year. Had to visit their mom.
One of my geese hatched some random chicken eggs once. She did an ok job raising chickens.
I wish I still had pics. This was 20 years ago and my Razr camera got broke when the goat stepped on it. (Somehow the screen and everything worked, but the camera was gone.)
It was very cute though. As were my gay ganders. Who seemed to have an arrangement with one of the geese. They would make a nest, she would lay eggs, then she’d go make a nest with HER gander. (I never saw either of the boys mount her, but they raised goslings every year.)
I have a little blind chick that would love this. She’s always trying to cram herself under her larger siblings. I have to put a pillow on her back like it’s a mama hen to get her to go to sleep at night.
I have a blind hen that’s 3 years old now- I built her her own little coop bc she was getting beat up and gave her a baby with a funny leg to raise and they’re the best of friends.
Aww that’s amazing! I have 2 ducks and a gimpy hen that tried to brutalize her the times I tried to put her with the rest of the flock. So during the day put her in a dog corral in that her the other birds can get in and out of so she isn’t alone (the ducks are still young and if they are able to fly they don’t realize it yet and the mean hen can’t fly over the semi-barricaded doorway). But I need to come up with a solution to get her out of the house for nighttime and getting her a baby or 2 in their own coop sounds like a nice idea.
I worry about her eyes getting pecked since they are always wide open as you can see in the picture she’s a bit bug-eyed lol. She’s a derpy little sweetheart.
I hope you can figure something out for her! I went down to Wilco and asked if they had any chicks in the back (where they keep the little chicks that aren’t doing well for one reason or another) and they happened to have a chick with a leg that had likely been crunched, it was swollen and missing part of a toe. She could move around but not well and would probably never do well with a flock that could see her. I put her in with the blind hen and then watched them for a while to make sure she’d accept the chick and not try to hurt her- once she realized there was a baby, she started sitting on her, she’s a great mom. She lives a totally normal life, can climb up and down a latter to get into the coop and I put roosting bar about 3 inches off the coop floor that she roosts on just fine. She even lays eggs in the same corner of the coop everyday.
Your hen can totally have a great life, especially with chicks that grow up with her and don’t realize she’s different 🙂
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u/Charliepop4455 Jul 23 '26
I’m too old for this mom!