best conditions to get a hen broody and can it ?can a leghorn go broody or is that 2 advanced??

[strangeanimal]

Good day BYC'ers !

I've started this thread so we could share some toughts and ideas about stimulating a hen to get her broody .
So , I would like to ask the following things ;
1. Has the food influence ? I mean this by change or some way /hours of feeding or just a totally different diet .
secondly , is it now true or false you can never make a hen go broody and she decides this totally on her own ? So there is just nothing you can do to make sure she shall decide to become broody ? or yeah sure she is perfectly able to be made broody , just leave some eggs etc in the nest etc ??

third question is in fact :
what conditions do the hens have in common if they decided to go broody ??
I mean did the weather change ? Did you add some different bushes ? some new food ? forgot to feed them ?
are they in a big flock or is it always one that lives in a smaller flock and thinks to herself " pffffff I really need some better company because sarah is always talking about easter and we aaaaaal know it is not the easterbunny , so I want kids , now ? "

Is it really so uncommon for a leghorn to turn broody ??? ( they are soon expired , uh retired , and I have never got them broody yet I would really like some chicks of them too , they're only with two which I find in fact sad , especially because they adapt themselves to any breed ! no fights ! never ever (besides for nesting box but they always want the best which is in fact exactly the same as the other ones but hey ;-) )
Can they even get broody if you want to 'make ' them broody ?

Anyway , I'd just like to know what do our fluffly friends actually all have in common in ' circumstances ' , ' temperature , state of moods etc ? '

p.s. : Any comments welcome but just a little bit more interested in the breeds that NOT often go broody or not at all yet did go broody and certainly the conditions (no matter the breed )

 

[DancingWthDucks]

I don't think that food has any influence- I didn't change the diet, and yet I have 2 girls (1 Wyandotte Bantam and 1 Silkie x Poish Bantam) who have gone broody.

You can't 'make' a chicken broody- it depends on the individual bird and how strong an instinct she has. I've heard that Silkies are VERY broody, yet my girl has never been a 'clocker' (broody), so again it depends on the individual, but some breeds are more prone than others.

My girls just go broody for no apparent reason- I've read that they normally go broody in spring/summer, but I've had broodies in November and December before (and we have very rainy, windy winters). I've found that if one goes broody, than several more will join her ....

It's very rare for a Leghorn to go broody- the instinct has been bred out of them to make them more productive.

 

[strangeanimal]

I don't think that food has any influence- I didn't change the diet, and yet I have 2 girls (1 Wyandotte Bantam and 1 Silkie x Poish Bantam) who have gone broody.

You can't 'make' a chicken broody- it depends on the individual bird and how strong an instinct she has. I've heard that Silkies are VERY broody, yet my girl has never been a 'clocker' (broody), so again it depends on the individual, but some breeds are more prone than others.

My girls just go broody for no apparent reason- I've read that they normally go broody in spring/summer, but I've had broodies in November and December before (and we have very rainy, windy winters). I've found that if one goes broody, than several more will join her

....

It's very rare for a Leghorn to go broody- the instinct has been bred out of them to make them more productive.

hi ,

well I sort of noticed the same about silkies but also some other breeds that just go broody as if they are born for it . Unfurtunately I see on the worldwideweb here same info about hybrids , simply bred out of them , shame actually because they will in the end just become as hard to find that even their prices will go up ( due rare breed ) , now on the other hand , it is thanks to the hobbyfarmer these breeds are still here , well altough that is what every single site says . So in fact is is so that if you are having a rare breed or a breed that is not going to be broody and you have them you should be breeding them too , just because you help nature by doing that ( we already helped mother nature making them non broody so i think its somewhat a responsibility for the humankind to make sure they don't extinct ) , using another hen or an incubator ofcourse .

About one going broody true enough you will soon see the rest go broody , here I witnessed this behavior :
one is fighting over one nestingbox with a breed they dont get along with , she is a broody and finally has her nest yet now the other one turns out to be the best so she wants in ,
usually entering that box would have been close to fatale to her but no now the other one is broody and they get along . ( I'm refering to a sussex vs a marans , the first days fought untill I seperated again because it could end up REALLY bad ) now being brood they are together in one box , odd isn't it ? it is contagious because one other hen started accting the same but i replaced the hens
(marans got broody in december , crazy mama lol )
what I did notice in the circumstances is that if one has been isolated for a few days due being pecked or so , she was more eager to stay broody ! So i'm really wondering what that was all about , I also use light to extend the day , only on darker days and winter , now obviously just let nature do its thing .
about my leghorn here , I feel actually quite sad they are not ' natural ' anymore and don't want to reproduce themselves , I have now been looking on the internet about them being broody and actually it is not THAT exeptionally ! I've seen a lot of clips showing of a broody leghorn , a white one , but it is true , these are all exeptions , I hope one of my own leghorn will have that in her mind some day before she is too old , not going to force them ofcourse , that simply ain't possible .
oh and if you need a broody ? not ONE ! if you don't need one ? they all go broody , as if they know it ;-) .
ty for the input anyway ! it is always good to share info right ?