A broody hen??? in October

For the first 2 years, she brooded at the end of May, then last year she did two clutches. The second clutch was a ferility problen, and a duds, and when there was no progress I broke her. This year she did two successful clutches.

Mine seem tied to a day light length.

She is just a hatchery hen, and I don't ever get real long lived hens.... this spring I am going to a little higher caliber bird.

Mrs K

Mrs. K, What you going to get for birds this spring???? (Inquiring minds!)

well, since you asked, I am thinking quite strongly on picking up some buckeye chickens. I have heard some very good things about them. I like a dual purpose bird with non feathered feet. I want eggs and not a scrawny carcass. I have some EE's in my flock, an one old BO, I think I would like to add maybe a couple of BO's and several Buckeye's and then close my flock...... if I like them. I sometimes think I am going to like a breed, and then don't, and sometimes think, I won't like this breed and then do...... so I will try them out and see.

I hate to spend a great deal of money on chicks, cause I do have predators, but I want a little higher class bird.

What do you currently have and are you looking to add?

I have: Hens: Production RIR, 2 EE, home bred black sex link. Pullets: 3 Dominiques, 3 Rose comb brown leghorns, 3 home bred black sex links (pea comb green egg layers), Pioneer, SLW, and last but not least, my beautiful, and talkative EE roo named Jack. I have also been looking closely at Buckeyes. If there was one breed I'd like to add, it would be Buckeye. There is a gal in my state who is breeding them. It wouldn't take very much temptation to get some eggs from her in the spring. Hubby and I could even go for a nice drive and pick them up!!

Go to the buckeye thread, very interesting.

I had a EE rooster, and I called him Captain Jack..... he was red with a green tail, he was a great rooster.
I had some dominiques, thought they were going to be the ticket..... really did not do it for me.

Mrs K

If I did my math correctly, then a game hen I have with be producing her fourth brood of 2014 that will have a hatch date of December 21, Her first brood was not particularly early with a hatch date of April so she could have come off with five broods if so pushed. Thus far she has hatched off about 35 chicks. Current brood will have very tough first four weeks until they get good feather coverage of the body. This will not be a brood that will fare will if weaned early. Brood three of same hen hatched by early October still roosts under wings of harem master. I may play around with use of a heat lamp to provide hen refuge from cold when it gets below zero. If she hatches off more than 10 which such hens are prone to do, then she will not be able to effectively cover them all by the time they are 2 weeks old. To avoid similar issues with hens kept out under stars in the field, they are being fed a restricted ration in part to prevent them from coming into lay. American Dominiques on a less restrictive ration will continue to lay but clutches would more likely than not be destroyed by egg freezing temperatures before hens commence brooding. Those eggs are also harvested promptly.

Another gamehen (actually a pullet and daughter of hen above from brood 1), I disrupted from a broody cycle so she will not commence brooding until near the end of December. Staggering for me advantageous because will ensure availability of chicks for a protracted period during late winter early spring that are large enough to public display areas where birds will be expected to run about. This all enabled by using a high quality complete diet fed to excess and would not be sustainable most years without a little supplemental heat. Some of the supplemental heat is very likely to be supplied by the rooster like in images shown below.







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Images above detailed in following link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882368/what-to-look-for-in-a-broody-rooster

Normally I do not value broody roosters so much for heat production but this round I think old Rollo (harem master) will have potentially a very important role. As a kid such behavior was seldom observed on walks but was common in cock pens where hens where in good nutrition and sex ratio was one to one. That may be where the selective force enabling the broody rooster option came to be. Such broods were generally highly valued as they were extremely high on the list for producing brood hens.

That is amazing.