Best broody Hen??

[suzpyoung]

I have a RIR bantam that thinks she was born to be a mother. And a good one she is! When she hatched 2 standard Ameraucanas, it was precious to see her try to sit on them when they were more than half her size.

 

[CMV]

GLW is a gold laced Wyandotte. I have a broody GLW that is going in the stew pot because she is too much of a freeloader. Always broody. Never lays any eggs of her own just hoards everyone else's eggs to hatch. I have no roosters. There will be no babies.

 

[CallyB57]

I have had one black Silkie that I had a hard time to get her to stop brooding- she would set on a rock forever if that was all she could find to set on. And I have a white Silkie that is currently hatching out her 4th little chick about 8' from me. She's an unbelievable little mother. Alas...Silkies are feather footed and probably wouldn't be too comfortable sitting on more than 5 or 6 small eggs...Sugar only weighs around 2 # herself.

 

[evonne]

Quote:
you need to make a road trip down here to get out of the snow for the weekend don't you???

i'm trying to decide what i want for a broody too... orp or cochin is what i'm thinking... now it's just picking a color... i love the laced birds...
i like cochin a little better looks wise than orp's...

i'm sure i'll end up witha silky or 2 too because i need a silkie roo for my frazzle so i can breed sizzles... lol...

i have too many plans and not enough room....

 

[jeslewmazer]

My speckled sussex have been the best so far as going broody and great mothers. Did have a problem with the last batch because both of brood hens went broody on the same nest. They only hatched out four chicks

, but they shared the mothering.

 

[catfish/okie]

Game hens are probably the best mother hens. But not if you have small children because the will attack anything they feel like may threaten their chicks. If you are the one that takes care of them some of them will allow you to hold the chicks. But someone they dont know is risking a flogging. They will attack cats and dogs. If you have children a Buff Orpington is usually a good choice they may attack children too but not as wildly. The can cover more eggs than a Game can. May be best to not allow unsupervised children close to any mother hen with young chicks.

 

[MiniBeesKnees]

I have an Old English banty hen who started sitting on her 13 eggs two days ago. She had four girls and a little roo hatch and survive out of seven eggs on 8/5. She was a good mommy...and started laying again about the third week in November. I just let the eggs collect in the nest until she decided she had enough and started brooding them. I had done the same with the first batch...just left them in the nest until she started to sit on them. With this batch I was curious if I could force her to go broody so to speak. It has been cold, and some of those eggs are three weeks old. I'm curious how many will hatch.

Although there are five nesting boxes, she has picked a corner of the coop in the deep straw. She shares the coop with five roosters and five other hens but no one else is laying. One roo and four pullets are her children born 8/5. Her 'husband' another Old English is the daddy as two roosters don't try to breed, one is too young, and the other one who is old enough is consistantlyy run off by the OE. He is very protective of her. 24/7 he is on the job...he is called the Nazi rooster for a reason.

After reading on here today I'm going to build her a separate pen in the coop and move her tonight. The coop isn't heated but I figure she knows what she is doing. I'll add a heatlamp when the chicks hatch...I have the option of bringing them into the laundry room but I think I've decided against that.

 

[Attack Chicken]

My little bantam wyandottes hands down here! One has 3 and the other one tried to go broody but I stopped her because she had a show the next weekend.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
you need to make a road trip down here to get out of the snow for the weekend don't you???

i'm trying to decide what i want for a broody too... orp or cochin is what i'm thinking... now it's just picking a color... i love the laced birds...
i like cochin a little better looks wise than orp's...

i'm sure i'll end up witha silky or 2 too because i need a silkie roo for my frazzle so i can breed sizzles... lol...

i have too many plans and not enough room....

Hi evonne! Yea a trip down south to red rock country sounds really good right now! You want Goldy? I have no roos so her determination is useless! Poor thing, she wants to be a momma so bad.

 

[8wishbonechicks]

Last winter our RIR hen went broody for 2 months. I thought she just stop laying b/c of the winter. She wouldn't come out to eat or drink unless we made her. The funny thing was she was trying to hatch golf balls (decoys). We didn't have a rooster, so no hatching. We bought 2 day old chicks and she adopted them right away. Poor girl, she just wanted to be a mother, so we obliged her.