bantam hen started laying

Quote:

Originally Posted by omartorres 

Hello i have a question, my bb red bantam hen just started laying i whant to find out how much time untile she gets broody.thanks

Isnt this a something! I have a BB Red hen and I love her. She started laying at the beggining of January I let her lay for about a month and a half with me collecting her eggs.

Then I decided I wanted to see what her "Special" number was (the number of eggs a hen lays before deciding to go broody). She 2 weeks to lay 8 eggs that were infertile so I just let them pile up one day I came out and there she was broody! I went the next day and got her fertile eggs from my friend, so now she is on day 4 sitting away.

The key is to let her decide and not force her into it. Let her lay as many eggs as she needs then she will just decide to go broody. I learned all this from a person who I got my BB Red hen from she knows alot!

Hope this helps at all....

 

My BB Red hen Ethel,who just happens to be the momma of Scarlett456's hen Gracie, is setting on a clutch of 5 eggs right now. She has been broody 5 times in the 2 years I have had her. Hens will ignore their eggs in the nest until they reach their "special number" or clutch. This is different for each hen and even can be different for the same hen on different occasions. Ethel didn't set or go broody the first time until she had 8 eggs in her nest. She set on and hatched all 8. This time she decided to go broody and set on just 5. It is different every time. You just have to let the eggs set and see if she will set on them. The eggs can be in the nest about 10 days and still be good. Your hen will know when she needs to set. They will kick any eggs that are bad out of the nest. If you have more then 1 hen in the pen the other hen/hens may lay their eggs in the same nest. The hens don't know which eggs are which so they will just set on all of them that are good. You can also put different eggs under her and she will set away. The whole concept of a broody hen is kinda hard to explain so the best advice I can give you is leave the nest alone and see if she sets on them on her own.

My Ethel being a good little momma! I'm sorry, I assumed your hen has a rooster and that her eggs are fertile. If not you can switch out her eggs for fertile ones. It takes 21 days for the eggs to hatch. Here is a picture of some of Ethel's chicks.

Most breeds we have today don't ever go broody no matter how many eggs are in the nest.  Just read all the threads on hidden nests with 20, 30, or more in them.  If it takes a number to set them off to being broody why weren't they covered by a brooding hen?  That said your bantams might just set on the first clutch, then again she might lay many clutches before that switch turns on. There is no time table that they read.  But this is one fun things about keeping chickens you can try things like this.  What works for one may or may not work elsewhere.