[shep53]

 My friend has  hen that she thinks is  more than 11 yrs old and this year she let her sit on eggs for the first time, result 7 chicks , she is an amazing mother leading the family everywhere , running of to find any left behind and even though they are now 4mths old, at night they all sleep under her wings .   My friend has never had a mother hen like  her , any one had a similar 

[ladyK]

Wow!! well done old lady 

My broody (unexpected as a hybrid) was a good mother, yes, but she abandoned her single chick brood bang on date at 6 weeks old. (Quite tragic for the chick as it had no siblings to hang out with - it spent a few lonely weeks until I got some new pullets of similar age and they took to each other immediately)

[Victorian Farmer]

Old hen well we had a cream legbar that was the best layer out of 70 hens the next season she was in top place again .So I decided to hatch just of this hen .Next season all hens will be hatched from Olga 3 seasons old .The cock bird I have bred is 50% Thor wich is a good utilatey .Naw the hen that made Olga I still have so old is good .

[chrismahon]

Our oldest ever hen was 7 ½ when she died last year. Blue Orpington who had never been sick a day in her life then suddenly went downhill. So 11 is a pretty amazing age Shep53 and even more amazing is that she has successfully hatched a brood -a process that needs a pretty fit hen anyway! Sounds like she still has a few more years in her, but tell your friend I wouldn't advise she pushes her into more hatching. She needs to retire and take it easy.

[lindaball1961@gmail.com]

How sweet, and great that she had a chance to prove what a good mummy she could be!!x

[HesterF]

I've got one top mummy who hatched one brood last season (after sitting for about seven weeks due to infertile eggs in the first batch) and two this (including geese). She stayed with the second hatch (late July) for a good couple of months before returning to her peers. But she's a lot younger - only two now - so I'm hoping she has many happy years of brooding in her yet.

[shep53]

Amazingly  at 6mths the family are still all together and even though the 2 cocks are as big as mammy they all still try to get under her , the other day the 2 cocks  were sparing and the  dominant  older cockerel came running in to sort them out  and the mammy hen then  attacked him to protect her sons  !!!