Best broody hen breed?

[sniper338]

Im learning here...

What type hens or hens are natorious, and usually can always be counted on to go broody to hatch and raise chicks? I know some chickens wont...

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Silkiest are generally at the top of the list for being a known broody breed.
You might like to drop by the silkie thread for the silkie keepers advice in this ~https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread

 

[sniper338]

I hear cochins can be good..?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Yes I have too and also Pekins. Many of the bantam breeds are good broodies it's just silkies are at the top of the list. I've even had a polish bantam go broody, polish even the bantams are not generally a broody breed. But if the fit takes a hen it takes her. Some have it some don't.

 

[Michael OShay]

Silkiest are generally at the top of the list for being a known broody breed.
You might like to drop by the silkie thread for the silkie keepers advice in this ~https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread

I hear cochins can be good..?

X2 on the above posts. Silkies are probably unmatched when it comes to being good brooders and mothers. Sometimes they will spend weeks trying to incubate a golf ball. ) Cochins (same breed as Pekins in the USA) are also excellent brooders.

 

[donrae]

Silkies and bantam cochins top my list. I've had sporadic dual purpose hatchery birds go broody, but usually not until their second year. Orpingtons have a reputation for going broody, but with hatchery birds it's still not a given. I'd love to get a good broody full size cochin--think of all the babies she could brood at one time with all that fluff!

 

[sniper338]

I'd love to get a good broody full size cochin--think of all the babies she could brood at one time with all that fluff!

My thoughts exactly... thats why i asked..

 

[varidgerunner]

I raise all of my chicks with broody hens. I find Asil are the best. Any Asian game is good, except for the really big ones like shamo. The American or OEG are good, just too flighty for my liking. I can count on mine to the extent of making arrangements to order in eggs for them to set. Like clockwork, start young and you might get 15 years out of them. They do multiple broods per year, most of mine will do three. Big enough to cover large clutches of large eggs. They don't tolerate snakes, cats or rats messing with their eggs or brood and will make most dogs think twice. They can do wonders finding food for the chicks in a free range environment. If you cross them with a large dual purpose breed, they make for some super free range broilers with plump breasts. (Asil were the well that the Cornish was drawn from, in regards to meaty breasts.)

I always heard Cochins were good, I raised them for several years and never had one that I would consider reliable, as in order Cemani eggs and shove them under a broody hen reliable. I would put eggs under my Asils and expect better results than an incubator. They are affected in no way by power outages or bad thermostats.

 

[Michael OShay]

I would put eggs under my Asils and expect better results than an incubator. They are affected in no way by power outages or bad thermostats.

I believe it. We had the same kind of results with our Silkies. They always gave us a better hatch rate than our incubators did.

 

[varidgerunner]

Never see crooked toes on the broody raised chicks They turn them way better than a mechanical turner, They stick that long neck in there and turn them very particularly. They can pick out bad ones better than anyone can candle them, too. I had one the other day that I found a marked egg that she had carried away from her nest, probably 50 feet. I busted it for the hogs, it was bad. I guess she didn't want a bad egg drawing in predators. The amount of instinct these birds have is incredible, yet they are very tame.