What’s the deal with you chicken people??

[fluffycrow]

I’ve got 4 red sex link so no broody for them I’ve got 2 legbars and Cochin bantams… hm I think I know the answer but I’m going to ask anyway, can bantam “fancy-wink wink-“ standard sized hens?

The short answer, yes. Long answer is, I don't have any experience with it myself, but I've read multiple times that it's very common. What I do have experience with is a serama male with a bantam hen. Sort of the same thing, but on a smaller scale.

Cochin bantams make wonderful broodies, I've been told

 

[z3lda3]

Yes, they definitely do act differently.

When the eggs hatch, the hen will want to keep all other chickens safely away from her babies. I've seen hens that insisted on 10 feet of space in all directions (this is a problem in small coops!)

While she is broody, the hen mostly sits on the nest and ignores the rest of the flock, who mostly ignore her unless they want to lay eggs in her nest. But when she does come off to eat, she practices the "leave me alone" behavior that she will use after the chicks are hatched. The other chickens mostly respect that, although not always (they may say, "you belong at the bottom of the pecking order. I won't tolerate you acting like that!")


Nope. People have been deliberately breeding less-broody and non-broody hens for a long time.

Some hens go broody frequently, some rarely, some never.

I've had one hen that laid 13 eggs and went broody. After hatching & raising chicks, she laid 13 eggs and went broody. She basically did that all summer long-- great if you want to hatch lots of chicks, but awful if you want eggs.

I've had some hens that would go broody in the spring, once each year, and not the rest of the time.

And I've had ones that never went broody.

There are some breeds that are more prone to going broody than others, but breed is never a guarantee (some hens just do not read the breed description!)

In general, the hens that lay the most eggs per year are the least likely to go broody (because broodies are not laying.)

Wow you should write articles! I’m serious, full of info and easy to understand!

 

[NatJ]

hm I think I know the answer but I’m going to ask anyway, can bantam “fancy-wink wink-“ standard sized hens?

Yes. Sometimes you get fertile eggs from that pairing, and sometimes not (apparently different sizes make things difficult, and some roosters are more creative than others at finding a way to make it work.)

 

[RoyalChick]

If you do not want to have a broody hen, then of course it is not good.

Yes this. I cannot add chicks this year for a bunch of reasons. So naturally Tassels went broody. Eventually she went to broody jail and went back to regular programming. At which point Sylvie went broody. Rinse and repeat.
While Sylvie was in jail, Piglet went broody (and still is) and this evening Tassels is back to being broody and it was only 3 weeks ago that she stopped.
I can't keep up!

 

[NatJ]

Wow you should write articles! I’m serious, full of info and easy to understand!

I'm still practicing

 

[z3lda3]

The short answer, yes. Long answer is, I don't have any experience with it myself, but I've read multiple times that it's very common. What I do have experience with is a serama male with a bantam hen. Sort of the same thing, but on a smaller scale.

Cochin bantams make wonderful broodies, I've been told

Can bantams and standards do what chickens do and have babies? What they be mid sized chickens??

 

[z3lda3]

Like the chicken in the tub isn't enough to achieve that?!

Not in chicken world

 

[RoyalChick]

When a hen goes broody, her body starts absorbing those egg yolks. This helps keep her from starving to death while she sits on the next.

I did not know that. Very interesting.
So if I want my girls to take a break from laying I should let them sit for as long as possible before moving them to broody jail? That way they will have to wait to grow new yolks before starting up again.
Did I understand right?
If so, useful tip for my current situation!

 

[fluffycrow]

Can bantams and standards do what chickens do and have babies? What they be mid sized chickens??

They can, and in some (or most) cases, the male can get the deed done. As you're probably tired of hearing chicken people say, sometimes their offspring are medium sized, sometimes their on the smaller side, sometimes on the larger. It depends

 

[z3lda3]

I did not know that. Very interesting.
So if I want my girls to take a break from laying I should let them sit for as long as possible before moving them to broody jail? That way they will have to wait to grow new yolks before starting up again.
Did I understand right?
If so, useful tip for my current situation!

See! @NatJ should write articles!!!