Co-parenting in poultry, mother, other and chicks. Putting the Jungle Back in the Fowl 3

I guess the most famous of my instances of co-parenting, if we are to go by viewing figures, is that of two of my neighbour's mallard mothers and a whole host of ducklings. It started out as a disaster but was turned into a triumph by the skill of  our wonderful Cochin 'Pearl' and you can read about it and watch the films in full here. However, co-parenting is becoming quite a phenomena within the confines of our forest garden home and so I thought I'd look into it and discuss some of my findings here.

Why Co-Parenting?

If I were to analyse why co-parenting seems on the rise this year in the forest garden, then I might proffer as hypotheses; the heatwave, resultant drought and their attendant factors of leaf-drop and paucity of soil-dwelling invertebrates. As the latter go deeper, the overhead predators have also profited from the former, with a clearer view of the forest garden floor. Furthermore and much to my annoyance, scavenging rats have decided that although, due to our intervention, they can not live with us they can surely make marauding raids over the garden in the late evening and early mornings. Birds have good memories, in my experience and last year's cold Spring and poor Summer resulted in slow leaf growth, which allowed the hawks flight paths within the forest. We sadly lost several chicks before we realised what was going on. All these factors, apart from the reason that it is probably more fun to have company whilst sitting eggs, have made for a bumper co-parenting season.

Four Eyes Good!

It is very obvious in certain co-parenting relationships as to the division of labour. Looking at the above photograph, you can see that 'Bunny' the Chamois Polish cross hen has the role of lookout and protector, whereas 'Slippers' the Cuckoo Cochin cross hen is the food provider and teacher of foraging. This role has continued throughout the Summer and although it now seems obvious that the eggs were from both hens, they have continued to co-parent all the chicks regardless of bloodline.  At this point in the chicks' growth, the Mothers have given them more liberty and remain in the background when food is easy to come by i.e. from me, although Bunny is still, on guard! Bunny was the first to decide it was time to roost.

However, Slippers was the one to place herself on the lower branches and call constant encouragement as they made their way up. Whether Bunny had had enough of sleeping on the ground or whether or not she felt they needed the safety of the trees before the onset of the Westerlies, I can not say but it is an interesting speculation.

At one point I thought the biological chicks of Bunny were more drawn to her but although it was sometimes the case that the two hens roosted on different sides of the Bay tree and that sometimes Chamois chick or chicks followed her, this was by no means the norm. As the chicks advanced in both age and skills, the mothers went higher up the tree and now  roost together with the chicks tightly packed beneath them. As we head into Autumn/Fall, it can be pretty hairy up there if there is a stiff wind blowing from the sea and both mothers strategically placed on the Eastern branches of the Bay tree can make a formidable wind break! The motion of the tree at these times makes me think of a cradle with the two mothers rocking gently at either side.

It seems to me and in fact has done so from the outset that these two mothers have co-parenting down to a fine art, their's is the best example I have ever seen of planned division of labour. Each hen seems to be aware of her personal strengths and weaknesses as a mother. Bunny is a lot more of a 'Tiger Mother' being more distant and yet more protective of the chicks and Slippers is the 'Lion' very nurturing and yet keen to be included within the flock.

In another coop (and coup), three mothers sat on two eggs but when they hatched the two black plumaged mothers took over the chicks. However, 'Opal'  always remained in the background and was actually responsible for helping and encouraging the chicks to climb the little plank provided for them to access the chicken coop at night. Waiting in the wings  was another broody, Bunny's daughter 'Sacagawea'. Eventually she gave up sitting on her wooden egg and either replaced or ousted one of the black mother hens, 'Cemani' and installed herself as co-parent along with Bella, the only remaining original sitter. Far from being confused the chicks seemed fine with this arrangement and the ex-mothers seemed fine with it too.

From time to time though, as often happens here, there has been a 'suitor' who has lined himself up to be included in the ménage. This seems to fit in with behaviour observed in those earlier wild Jungle fowl studies referred to above, where young males would 'squire' females with chicks even though they were not the original male of the pair bond. This cockerel pictured above (Chamois Polish) didn't pass the test, being less interested in looking after the chicks and more in sharing any extra food that came their way!

Sacagawea and Bella are still working as a cohesive team, they do not seem to have different duties and unlike the calmer Slippers, both she and Bella are equally as protective and one might even say aggressive in the protection of the chicks.

I am amazed how these hens decided on the changes to be made in the parenting of these two chicks. Furthermore, how seamlessly it has happened without apparently any perturbation to the chicks.

Further Musings on the Reasons Behind Co-Parenting 

In the ideal Forest Environment, I believe chicks would expect to have a bonded pair of parents and that their time as 'chicks' would extend for a period much longer than that expected by modern farming or backyard keeping. The time-period mentioned for brooding is around three months. This subject and pair-bonding are discussed in several early 20th century studies on wild Red Jungle Fowl in Burma and India and later in a non-confined population, released in 1942 into the 40-hectare grounds of San Diego zoo. (You can find an introduction and links to the academic studies reference here) In default of the required number of males in this garden to form pairs, or maybe more likely because not all my males have  yet rediscovered their parenting skills - hens form other alliances and bonds to help them both find food and protection in the garden environment. This also happens because the forest provides a milieu within which chicks can be free-ranging from day of hatch. I am very keen on facilitating this for chicks not only to obtain the volume and quality of nutrition to grow and flourish but also the time necessary for acquiring the skills to feed themselves. I have observed too that the length of brooding is an important factor in the individual chick's emotional development. Thus I am very interested when, as has happened over recent years, if a mother loses interest in or has lost the connection to lengthy brooding, another broody from the same flock has taken over the job.

As far as the males are concerned, many do show tendencies after hatch to help with certain aspects of brooding, particularly in protecting the chicks from predators or in keeping other adults away from key foraging sites, such as the compost bins! However, witness the photographs above and below, some males take this process much further and become fully bonded to both females and chicks, in the case of Spike and Millefeuilles, this has been a long bond, six years now and although Millefeuilles sat with her friend it is the bonded male Gold Black-laced Polish Spike who looks after the chick at night (see if you can spot the little face peeking out from underneath the cockerel's feet).

Human Co-parent?

On one occasion when one of my small Polish chicks had a serious case of hypothermia and I was worried he would not make it through the day, I took on the role of parent. It is something I am very wary of doing as I do not like to in any way alter the bond with the mother but in this case it was a necessity and I'm happy to say it was a successful operation with Ringo Bingo Jr returning to his mother within 2 days and with no apparent damage either physical or emotional!

In Conclusion

The Forest environment is a great place to bring up chicks, it's full of food and forage and a place to learn skills and behaviour, which makes for an even stronger and more cohesive future generation. On the downside the forest can hold dangers, similar to the ones these chicks wild cousins faced within their Jungle home but it is to my continuing admiration that the present generation find ways and means to overcome them.

Here's the film:

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

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Until next time, all the very best from Normandie! Sue

© 2018 Sue Cross

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The Unhatchable Egg. A tale of five broodies

This is a short and very sweet story from the Summer and it further illustrates just how wonderful Nature can be and so full of surprises. It also made me question that old adage. 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch'.

This dictum is said to have originated in the Aesopica, a collection of fables written by Aesop between  620 to 560 BC and in particular the moral tale of 'The Milkmaid and her Pail'. The illustration below is a woodcut by Helen Siegl from the artofchildrenspicturebooks blogspot.

In Aesop's fable the girl walks home with a bucket on her head planning in stages how she will convert the very saleable, rich milk in her pail to finery. She will buy eggs, hatch chicks, grow then on and purchase a party frock with the proceeds. Of course it all comes to naught because as she thinks about the gown and how she will disdainfully wow the local lads, she tosses her head and drops the milk. Then of course comes the sententious punch line. Personally I don't go in for morality tales, they smack to much of the status quo, I like them where the eggs hatch and they all live happily ever after. 

Like the following:

Broody hens - an introduction

I've written of this on other occasions but I think it is apposite to include it here, that in my experience there is no such thing as a typical broody hen and furthermore that there are many reasons why a bird becomes and maintains the character of the broody.

These are:

Status - To a young hen, or one low in the pecking order, being broody gives status, which it may otherwise take her months or even years to attain.
Position - a broody hen and even more so, the mother of chicks, is revered by the whole flock, which as a collective has, in my experience a fine understanding of continuance.
Freedom - in a forest garden, likes ours where there are several flocks and thus territorial boundaries decided by the birds, a broody and/or hen with chicks has passe-partout.
Food - a broody has by her very nature of quasi-'insanity' priority at the food bowl, plus I usually allow my broodies and mother hens and chicks, first sitting at breakfast and they know this.
Respect - by the very nature of a broody's erratic and often aggressive behaviour, she can instil fear and or reverence into the heart of even the bravest of cockerels
Protection - broodiness and motherhood can often bring out monogamy in a cockerel, many of my broodies find themselves squired around the garden, this happens in particular if the male believes that the chicks are his own.
Respite - in a mixed flock, particularly with young males, hens can get chased and annoyed by over-amorous cockerels. Being broody keeps them out of harms way, in particular if the hen has also formed a relationship as in the previous paragraph.
Peace - there is a great deal to be said for spending hot Summer days, in a cool hen house chatting with your friends.

To this end it should become obvious that, not all broody hens incline to motherhood and that being a serial broody has its advantages.

Why I leave broodies alone

Even prior to the First World War there was a move afoot to industrialise farming and bring it into the Agrochemical domain. To this end many things had to change, from the side-lining and then near annihilation of ancient, slow growing, independent and ancient breeds to the breaking and breeding out of natural impulses such as broodiness. If you want a hen to be a laying machine in a factory farm then you certainly don't want her broody. This in turn engendered a whole new set of satellite industries, such as small-scale incubators, heat lamps, plastic feeders, chick crumbs and of course medication and vaccines. A complete paraphernalia of goods which previous generations of small homesteaders, including my innkeeping great grandmother, seen here above with her brood of chicks, could quite easily do without. 

Of course with the reversal of this trend of the past decades and a return to organic farming, chicken keepers have began to realise that a good broody is a very rara avis indeed. Furthermore, just ask yourself what would you rather have if you were a chick, a warm loving feathery Mummy or a heat lamp and a pile of shavings?

Even so it can be annoying to have several broodies blocking up the nest boxes and chasing away your laying hens. This is particularly annoying in a forest garden where your hens will quite naturally lay away and build up clutches of eggs and hatch them. To this end my solution is to give them an egg and put it in one nest box. Hens do know the difference between a golf ball and a real egg and even if they have no intention of becoming mothers, the attraction of a nice smooth egg to sit on is very tempting. Thus, in the Summer I ended up with five broodies in one box all sitting on one egg. However, as all five of them fitted into different categories above, once the initial excitement of having a potential chick to hatch was over, they settled down quite happily in the one box and completely ignored the egg. Hence the following film:

Anyway, whoever heard of a milkmaid owning her own pail of milk?

It you have enjoyed this blog and found it interesting then please think about subscribing, sharing it and/or commenting. Please also feel free to ask questions. 

All the very best,

Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2016