Same-Sex Chicken Experiment

Well, my happy little lesbian hen family has not survived. Chick envy appears to have been the problem. The yellow and one of the black mamas had been happily sharing their little brood of three for nearly two weeks without problems, and it looked like all would be well.

Then I let the other brood out of the rabbit hutch and out into the barnyard. Another black mama (2) has a brood of five, about a week old now. When black mama (1) saw the new brood, she promptly tried to steal it. The two black mamas were fighting viciously.

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell them apart, so I had to grab one and hold it while I watched to see if the chicks would run under the one remaining. I grabbed the wrong mama first and had to switch. I tried to put black mama (1) back with her family, but she just kept trying to fight with black mama (2). She didn't even care about her three chicks anymore! She abandoned them to yellow mama.

So I had to put black mama (1) in the mama barn overnight to chill out, and now my same-sex chicken experiment is over.

Is that clear?