***BO OWNERS*** Do BO hens really go broody easily? Good egg layers?

[spartacus_63]

Quote:
Gotcha. Still can't imagine not having broodies myself.

I told my husband we need to buy like 5 acres so I can have 100 chickens.....Broody Heaven ....LOL! He just shakes his head......

We have 2 acres for chickens. I have 52 birds, 5 of which are bantys, and one bio-bator on 13 eggs, due Feb 7 and an order for 25 birds in April and 15 in June. The ordered birds are to add breeds. I normally only raise my own but decided to try for bigger meat birds and to add two more breeds to the flock.

I guess your hubby just hasn't been completely entranced by the power of chicken math...yet

 

[annaraven]

I adore my Buffy. She's my egglaying machine! 5 out of 7 days, I can count on there being a Buffy egg, regardless of what is going on. She's also the one who jumps on our laps when we're out while she's freeranging. Just the sweetest bird! If I had to pick *one* breed and have only that breed, it would probably be BOs. Luckily, I don't have to pick.

 

[bjw113]

I haven't had any of mine go broody yet, but they aren't a year old so... we'll see. I also don't have a rooster at this time, so no fuzzy butts for me yet. If I had to do it all over again, I would only get the Buff's. They are the sweetest, gentlest chicken. I didn't realize chickens could be so sweet BUT they do get picked on frequently because they are so docile. My Plymouth White Rocks lay a little more frequently but given the choice, I would just have more Buffs. Good luck with your babies!

 

[gryeyes]

My BO was the first broody I ever experienced, and she went broody at 7 months. After hatching a single chick - my first GrandChick! - she raised it very well (it wasn't her egg, but Rebecca's and the only roo I had at the time, both EEs) and it is now laying lovely green eggs, too. But Buffy hasn't gone broody again. Yet.

My second broody was Shirley Welsummer, who hatched 4 eggs. She, too, was 7 months old and had only been laying for about 3 weeks. Hatched and raised those chicks very well. Daddy was Carl again, and two of the four were Shirley's and two were Delilah Delaware's eggs. One chick drowned in the ducks' kiddie pool, and one injured itself when it was older, and didn't recover. So now only Delilah & Carl's chicks are in the flock, doing very well. Not yet laying, but the roosters are getting interested in 'em.

I have some BO eggs incubating (shipped, pure BO) to add more of 'em to the flock. I love 'em. Big, fluffy, puffy, gorgeous hens.

 

[HEChicken]

I have two BO's, both 18 months old - neither has ever gone broody (except in my case I wanted them to). As for laying, you almost can't beat them. The first BO laid every single day for the first several months of laying. After that I had so many new pullets starting to lay it was difficult to tell if she missed a day here or there. Certainly, she didn't miss many. Here we are now, more than a year after she started laying and she has never quit. The second BO took a couple of months off to molt and only just started back to laying a few days ago. But the first has not even taken a break to molt. My only complaint is that her eggs are kind of small. Now the other BO is a little different story. She never did lay quite as consistently as the first. I don't think there was ever a week she laid an egg every single day. Still, I got 5-6 eggs a week from her so I'm not complaining. Then she took the two months off to molt and since she started back, she is laying an egg about two out of every three days, which isn't bad. Plus, the eggs are a good size since her molt - would be jumbo eggs if sorted for commercial selling. So all in all, I'm pleased with them as egg layers.