Building Our Broody Flock: Recommended Breeds?

[gr8bskt]

We're fixing to take a flying leap off the deep end here. : )

One of our Buff Rocks, Butter, went broody, so we let her try. She hatched out her babies, and what a wonder to behold. They're very active with vibrant leg color, no sticky bottom, robust in every way. I can't believe some of the the huge things they ate at just two days old! It's wonderful to watch her teaching them how to be chickens - a completely different experience.

We were told recently that the babies can't be with roosters or the rest of the flock because they'll get pecked, but that hasn't been our experience at all; mama would never allow such foolishness.

So here's where it gets interesting: for our hatching operation on our small farm, we want to build up our brooding flock as our primary method of hatching and raising chicks. There won't be any expectations on our broody gals for eggs; they will be free to hatch and raise to their heart's content. And this level of effort on our part can't be beat.

For anyone who does a similar thing, can you suggest a reliably broody breed that are excellent mothers? Standard Cochins were recommended to us for broodiness, but we've never had one, and we don't know what they're like as mothers.

If you made it this far - congrats! A gold star for you. : ) And thank you for any suggestions; we put a lot of stock into the advice that comes from BYC.

Blessings,
Jennifer

 

[PoultryGirly]

This spring was the FIRST time I've ever had any broodies. The first was my mallard duck (didn't hatch anything). About a month later my Partridge Cochin hen and at the same time my Golden Laced Wyandotte hen. Unfortunately, my Cochin hen died while she was still incubating her eggs. And about a week ago, my Buff Orpington has started to sit on eggs. This is the time for broodies!

Also, I've heard of other farms that breed their poultry to be broody and the chicks that hatch from the broody hens are more likely to go brooody themselves from the 'gene'.

 

[gr8bskt]

I know we are very blessed by this particular hen, and I'm hoping that the two babies she hatched are both hens as well. (She was on 21 eggs...one of our children kept putting more eggs under her - oops!...and bailed after the third hatched...we tried the incubator for the rest and had too hard a time regulating the temperature. Her first chick died when he got his head caught in the wire bars of the cage we have attached to our chicken garden; that's since been fixed with hardware cloth. Nice and safe now.)

But I'm hoping like you said, that chicks that she hatches will have crazy mad nest skills and hatch their own, too. Sitting's good, but hatching and raising are better. : ) Our other Buff Rock has gone broody, too, but we were stupid and took those eggs. Next time she gets to sit.