They really are a law unto themselves! Moody and aggressive. They go 'broody' for no apparent reason, even if there are no eggs! Both these girls sat on eggs. Out of 15 eggs we got ONE live off-spring. The girl at the back 'lost the plot' after 20 or so days on the nest. The hens kept arguing over the eggs and rolling them back and forth to try and be the 'queen' chook with all the eggs. It goes without saying that quite a few didn't survive that level of fussing about. Then the chook at the back kept thinking her hatched babies were eggs. She ended up smothering them to death. The front girl turned out to be a great mother BUT she didn't know the eggs we put under her were Orpington eggs from another hen! Orpington hens are massive...so at 6 weeks this 'chicken' is now bigger than 'mummy' bantam and is bullying the mother.I will have to separate them soon. Oh what tangled webs we weave when at first we try to deceive!
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