Why can a broody......

[Cami Su]

My best breeding hen was a Banty who laid blue eggs-really tiny ones. She laid for 15 years, raised chicks for 13 years and lived for 16 years. Her last chick was a single and it disappeared -just gone. Her older daughters were also really great one had some odd wing feathers, which meant that I could recognize her. Something got her one day, but I was able to find her chicks and put them in with the pullets I had bought. The last one of that line disappeared last year, 11 years after the original Banty died. I only knew where she had been because I would find an abandoned pile of blue eggs. She never once laid in a spot where I could harvest them and she never once figured out how to hatch an egg/ Usually she would lay somewhere where there was cold under her (like on a plastic sheet stretched over nothing, so there was no way to insulate. or she would go away for too long or maybe wait too long after she laid to start setting. Utterly worthless. Black sex Links do go broody, but usually try it in a nesting box and I will have been harvesting the eggs so, again, no dice. The best ones know enough to steal a nest and just show up with the chicks when they hatch. And often there will be more than one hens eggs, and perhaps the other hen, or perhaps a different one will be right next to the nest when chicks start to hatch and will steal some. The best one was when we went away for a couple of weeks , and a day after we got back one girl paraded by with her brood- all 16 of them! A couple of days later the state mowed the sides of the road and then we found out where she had had her nest. Good thing they waited until the chicks were all hatched and mama had moved them into the chicken house to mow!

 

[Cami Su]

It see most any breed of hen can decide she would like to be broody, but there is no guarantee that certain breeds will be broody. Then, its also a roll of the dice if a broody will be a good mom. It seems it would be easiest to make an ISO post or watch for someone that has a proven broody to rehome On a local FB group.

I often wonder if broody raised chicks are more predisposed to being broody?

I think that they are, and if their mom was a good one, they will be. My Banty would have her chicks roosting high when they were just a couple of weeks old. And her daughters were good mamas as well. I don't think that she produced many roosters, though there was a time when we had several. Someone gave me one this summer so we shall see what happens next year.

 

[SHF1214]

Not to intrude on your conversation but I’ve heard Silkies are pretty good brooders. I haven’t had any personally but my neighbor’s are very good broody mamas.

We finally let One of my silkies Have a couple of eggs and she hatched them both and is a great little mama! Why are the chicks 10X as cute when they’re with a mama??

 

[goldies99]

Bantam Chickens......they will hatch all you need....I had my little bantam hatch 14 full size chicken eggs.....she went broody 3 times in one season!

 

[TheFarm41]

True. I'm just saying that because I'm still waiting for my 18-week old Brahmas to start laying so they can go broody. I'm finally learning to breed chickens, and I'm kind of impatient. I got one really small egg today, and I'm wondering if it was a smaller on from my Barred Rocks, mainly because it had that coloring.

You may be waiting longer than you think. Brahmas grow slow and usually don't lay until around 8 months. They do go broody easily. But are not prolific layers, and sometimes if they are really big girls they squish their babies.

 

[TheFarm41]

Bantam Chickens......they will hatch all you need....I had my little bantam hatch 14 full size chicken eggs.....she went broody 3 times in one season!View attachment 2320740

I agree those Bantams will hatch anything and they are fierce little mamas.
Our black austrolaup that hatched 6 turkey eggs this year!

 

[MykaMom]

True. I'm just saying that because I'm still waiting for my 18-week old Brahmas to start laying so they can go broody. I'm finally learning to breed chickens, and I'm kind of impatient. I got one really small egg today, and I'm wondering if it was a smaller on from my Barred Rocks, mainly because it had that coloring.

First eggs tend to be smaller, easing a young hen into her production cycle. Just saying.

 

[Sonya9]

Take day old chicks out and terrorize the world. They eat grass, bugs, watermelon, kitchen scraps, chuck starter, and everything else they can shove in their gluttonous little beaks. Their crops are distended all day because they are full till behind their necks...... and there aren’t any digestive issues. No impacted crops, no pasty butt....

How do we as chicken tenders replicate this in the brooder? Jerk them outside and set them partly on a gravel driveway, partly on the lawn.... have a warm spot to dive under every fifteen minutes and randomly toss them a few feet to replicate being in the wrong spot when momma scratches for them? Then take them inside so it’s not drafty for the night hours?

Im truly trying to figure out why broody’s chicks, adopted or hatched, don’t have the issues a strict brooder batch does.

Stress may also figure into it. A hen not only makes the chicks feel safe, shows them what to eat etc...but the bond between them is intense. All day long young chicks mimick their mother's behaviors and at night they have the softest warmest bed of all.

"Orphaned" chicks in a brooder don't have any of that. We know human infants raised in huge orphanages with very little touch, contact or bonding have a lower survival rate and poorer health, common sense says it will have an effect on chicks too.

 

[TheFarm41]

Stress may also figure into it. A hen not only makes the chicks feel safe, shows them what to eat etc...but the bond between them is intense. All day long young chicks mimick their mother's behaviors and at night they have the softest warmest bed of all.

"Orphaned" chicks in a brooder don't have any of that. We know human infants raised in huge orphanages with very little touch, contact or bonding have a lower survival rate and poorer health, common sense says it will have an effect on chicks too.

Well stated. Chicks belong under a warm feathery mama, not a lightbulb.

I hatched a few turkey chicks in an incubator at the same time a chicken was sitting on turkey eggs. The eggs under her hatched about the same time as the incubator ones, so on day 2 I took them out of the incubator and put under her, she accepted them right away. They were so happy to snuggle under her, they never looked back. lol

 

[Sonya9]

Well stated. Chicks belong under a warm feathery mama, not a lightbulb.

I hatched a few turkey chicks in an incubator at the same time a chicken was sitting on turkey eggs. The eggs under her hatched about the same time as the incubator ones, so on day 2 I took them out of the incubator and put under her, she accepted them right away. They were so happy to snuggle under her, they never looked back. lol

Yeah I usually buy 2-3 feed store chicks when one of my bantams goes broody and the chicks are always so happy to be put under a real mama. It is like a huge relief for them and sleeping in the down of the hen has to be ultra comfy.