Two Moms March 14, 2012
Two Silkie hens are mothers to the same chicks
Silkie hens want to be moms. That’s just about it for Silkie hens. They live for it. If they aren’t raising chicks, they are brooding eggs or thinking about raising chicks or brooding eggs. I have the feeling that they talk about it amongst themselves when we’re not around. So when my little White Silkie ‘Cloud’ went broody, it was of no surprise to me. Same when my second Silkie hen ‘Snow’ went broody about a week later. It was, however, a bit unusual that they decided to sit on the same clutch of eggs.
It was rather amusing to watch two little white hens sitting in the same nest box day after day. They would take turns going out to get something to eat or drink, which is a luxury most broody hens don’t enjoy. So when it became apparent that the eggs they were sitting on were probably not fertile and were never going to hatch, I just couldn’t bring myself to break their little hearts. So I got three little chicks from a neighbor and in the dead of night placed the chicks under the hens and snatched their eggs.
You could hear the excitement in their voices and see it in their actions as the two hens discovered the chicks, and took to the task of raising the three little ones. In their zeal to be moms they overlooked the fact that the chicks were already a couple of weeks old and didn’t even remotely look like Silkies (one being an Easter Egger and the other two Barred Plymouth Rocks). The chicks were delighted to have not just one mom but two!
They go about the job of raising chicks as though they were only one hen, both teaching the chicks where to find food and water, the joy of finding a fat bug and calling to them when they wander a bit too far away. The chicks snuggle under both hens to keep warm and there is absolutely no conflict amongst them. Cloud and Snow are happier than they ever have been and the chicks love their adopted moms, both of them.
I’ve read before that silkies make great moms for hatching all sorts of poultry. But especially other chicks.
Thanks for the cute story!
This is so cute. I had two silkies hatch eggs together, not their own eggs, some others that I slipped in. It was one big happy family! Humans should be like this.
I have to say, that is one of the sweetest things that I have read in a long time. I don’t think that there is anything that can amaze me as much as the love that a mother has
Thank you for sharing and Blessings!
What a wonderful story!! That’s awesome that they both are caring for the baby chicks together. We have two white silkies maybe someday………..
Silkies have the sweetest dispositions. Our two, Blanche and Dorothy think they are lap chickens! They get along so well with our other mixed flock & love helping to raise the new babies. I loved your story.
Aaaw, my aunts silkie and showgirl hen did this a few months back. Happy little moms with the same 6 babies (none of which were actually their eggs). Silkies are so sweet
This is just so sweet !!!!!!!!
I had a silky that was very broody and didn’t have fertile chicken eggs at the time.
But I had turkey eggs!! she didn’t care and was a happy camper.
She hatched three turkey poults. Now that was a site
I could not find one of my rose comb black bantam that was sharing two chicks with a Rhode Island Red cross. When I called for her, her head popped out from under the backside of the red hen Sassy. I guess the chicks were under the rosier and Sassy just decided she would sit on top of her. It had to be warm.
I also have a “tag team” of two silkies–one white and one black. They hatch and raise chicks belonging to other hens, sharing sitting and babysitting duties. They are beyond sweet!
I have an old black silkie hen I was given 2 years ago. I am not sure how old she is, but she has never laid an egg, or gone broody in that time ever. I always thought of her as a grumpy old woman as she always fought with all my other bantams and remained top chicken, but never seemed nice or actually did anything. Just recently she suprised me and went broody for the first time since I’ve had her, so I thought I’d make some use of her and bought some fertile eggs for her to sit on. She sat so diligently on those eggs that she had snail trails across her back! Now we have 6 beautiful little 2 week old chicks and she is such a good Mum and has this new lease on life that I now see her in a whole new light, I won’t think of her as the grumpy old woman anymore!
What a great story!
My silkies are sitting on the same nest right now 2!!!!!!!!!!! i think these eggs are fertile and i hope to have a bunch of new babies soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I only have the one Silkie hen for now (another in the brooder). She went broody and I put 3 Phoenix eggs under her. My son collected the eggs and broke 2 of them, so I put 3 more under. Not only did she hatch out the first baby, she kept sitting for another 2 weeks to hatch the others!
I came across your blog while searching for an answer to my closely related story, but my story just developed a problem. Two weeks ago my two silky hens co-hatched and are raising one chick (not their own). The chick is almost two weeks old and everything was going great, like in your stories. However, today the two hens started fighting. I mean, really going at it. I separated them for a few minutes, but as it was getting dusk and the one mama and baby returned to the nesting box, I felt so badly for the outcast mama that I let her go back to the nest. At first she picked on the other hen and I had to remove her from the nesting box twice. The third time, as darkness approached, they finally settled. My question is, what happens tomorrow? Has anyone had anything like this occur with co-mothering hens? Thanks, Sandra in FL
I find that at some point the hens decide they no longer want to share the chicks and usually the more dominant hen will drive the other off. There can often be what looks to us like a deathly battle for the right to raise the chicks. It usually lasts a couple days, no one gets seriously hurt and they go about their business as usual with one hen taking on the duties of raising the chicks.
Hi I have a small flock of silkies and yes they are broody. Two of them were broody and since I finally decided the one who should have been a Roo was indeed a hen And my eggs were not fertile, I gave in and ordered them a few fertile eggs from MPC. Now three more are broody in another nest. I have one Silkie living in my house after a hawk attack. She is laying an egg a day. So I have three Silkies acting like normal chickens, laying eggs, going out in the run scratching and digging. And my question is, the two brooding on eggs have been on the nest for a total of two months so far with three weeks to hatching time. The three others have been broody for between one and four weeks, should I just let them get over it? Is there any danger allowing them to brood away? They are so cute, but I don’t want to leave them alone if it is not the correct choice. Thanks,
There is no danger in letting them brood. Mine tend to stay broody for a month or so, then take a break from it for awhile and go back to being broody again for awhile. It doesn’t seem to have an adverse effect on them, I just don’t get many eggs from them.