All different breeds and not one will go broody...

[sagealbright]

hello!

I have all different breeds of chickens and I can't seem to even get one to go broody. I've used an incubator before to hatch their eggs but I'd like to have the experience of my hen raising them at least once. I have a brahma, buff orphington, salmon faverolle, silkie, Wyandotte, partridge Plymouth Rock, black astroloup, welsummer, Easter egger, and Cochin. All are laying. I've tried putting curtains on the nesting boxes, using fake eggs, leaving the eggs in there a few days to see if someone will sit. Nothing. Yesterday I found one of my girls was laying in an old coop that was no longer being used. There were over 10 eggs and still no one sat on them! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I can't even get my female guineas to sit on eggs. They lay in the nest boxes with the girls and then just leave them there!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Even extremely broody prone breeds like silkies and chochins aren't reliably going to do it that frequently.
Somewhat broody breeds like Orps, Brahmas, EEs and Aorps aren't guaranteed to ever go broody.
IMHO, Wyandottes, Favorelles, Rocks and Welsummers aren't that prone to go broody.

Patience is a virtue, and some want it now.

 

[sagealbright]

I feel like maybe I just got duds. lol! I've just been waiting over a year and they haven't shown any interest in their eggs at all. They go in, they lay, then they come out to free range and don't go back to the coop until dusk. One of these girls has got to have some sort of motherly instinct! I would even be content if one of my guineas would sit. I just want babies walking around this summer!

 

[Folly's place]

Patience, Grasshopper! I've got three broody hens right now, all two or three years old. If you didn't want any, you'd have a group you couldn't break. Send maternal vibes their way, and try to keep smiling. Cochins ant games and Silkies tend to be super broodies, but who knows? Mary

 

[rc4u]

my two year old broodies wanted the eggs on the floor in the corner...it was a few weeks ago that I didn't get eggs till every two to three days and I think it was them seeing them that way and it was also then that they started laying on the floor and before that they were using the leaning plywood outside. so maybe just leave some eggs in a nice corner and see and evey couple days pickup eggs and put fress ones in...just a guess..

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

When I'm ready to encourage my hens to go broody, I leave golf balls in one of the nests (6 of them). Sometimes it takes a few days, sometimes it takes a few months. I have a lot of Silkies and Silkie/Cochin mixes, and most of them go broody. One goes, and then one by one, pretty much all of them follow. Then I have 6 or 7 broodies (or more) all siting at the same time. All I can say is, be careful what you wish for I love them, and I let them hatch, but they can be a bit overwhelming at times!

 

[nchls school]

hello!

I have all different breeds of chickens and I can't seem to even get one to go broody. I've used an incubator before to hatch their eggs but I'd like to have the experience of my hen raising them at least once. I have a brahma, buff orphington, salmon faverolle, silkie, Wyandotte, partridge Plymouth Rock, black astroloup, welsummer, Easter egger, and Cochin. All are laying. I've tried putting curtains on the nesting boxes, using fake eggs, leaving the eggs in there a few days to see if someone will sit. Nothing. Yesterday I found one of my girls was laying in an old coop that was no longer being used. There were over 10 eggs and still no one sat on them! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I can't even get my female guineas to sit on eggs. They lay in the nest boxes with the girls and then just leave them there!

Did the hen in the old coop go broody? Many hens will lay between 12 and 16 eggs before going broody. When I want a broody hen I get one to lay in a box all its own (not to easy to do) and replace each fresh egg with a dummy egg as they are laid. When the hen has laid between the 12 and 16 eggs they have always gone broody for me. I'm doing his with one of my hen right now; we're up to four dummy eggs. The hen is 8 years old and lays an egg every other day so this will take a while.