I love this photo and had to share.

One of the best things about keeping Cochins is they really enjoy being mothers.  When they are broody, they will easily accept foster chicks or will hatch fertile eggs.  Harley adopted a few feed store Buff Orpingtons and Penguin sat on 3 Trader Joes eggs and hatched out a leghorn pullet.   The mothers insured the babies were safely integrated into the flock and protected them.    I am a softy for chicks and love having some around all the time; Cochins give me an excuse to have chicks more than just once every year or two.   Anytime one goes broody, I will probably consider letting them have some baby chicks if the timing works for our family.  The only hard part of letting the hens raise chicks is I prefer to keep only 5 or 6 adults; picking my favorite hens or downsizing is always hard.