Breeding for broody trait

[SourRoses]

Speckled Sussex (even from a TSC hatchery) yielded several good broodies for us. They are dual purpose (the roo we had got about 10lb), clean legged, proficient layers. But the eggs were tan and medium sized.

 

[bigz1983]

Speckled Sussex (even from a TSC hatchery) yielded several good broodies for us. They are dual purpose (the roo we had got about 10lb), clean legged, proficient layers. But the eggs were tan and medium sized.

Thanks for the info.
I believe TSC gets their chicks from Hoovers Hatchery.
I noticed TSC has a online ordering system from Hoover hatchery.
Their deal is order 10 birds of 1 single breed get free shipping.
So Hoovers Speckled Sussex will go broody?
The egg color and size isn't that big of a deal.
My wife really likes Speckled Sussex chickens.
I will look on TSC's website to see if I can order Speckled Sussex from them.

 

[BlueBaby]

I have 2 Bielefelder broody hen's right now, so I would say they are a large dual purposed broody breed, as they are hogging up the nesting boxes. You can check for other egg's under them and all they do is fluff up and make a bit of noise, but they don't peck you.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks for the info.
I believe TSC gets their chicks from Hoovers Hatchery.
I noticed TSC has a online ordering system from Hoover hatchery.
Their deal is order 10 birds of 1 single breed get free shipping.
So Hoovers Speckled Sussex will go broody?
The egg color and size isn't that big of a deal.
My wife really likes Speckled Sussex chickens.
I will look on TSC's website to see if I can order Speckled Sussex from them.

I suggest comparing the full price of your desired order from several different hatcheries including all the various order and shipping fees.

I *usually* find that Ideal comes out as the best deal for what I want but not always.

 

[crankyangel]

Ok I want a brown egg laying, large dual purpose meat/eggs breed, clean leggs(no feet feathers)and has the trait to brood chicks.
Currently I have large fowl Blue/Black/Splash Cochins that meet all most of the requirements above.
Except they have feathered legs.
2 years ago I had 8 hatchery stock Buff Orpington hens and thought they would go broody.
They never went broody not a single one of them during the almost 3 years we had them.
After that we got Cochins. They are great mothers and sometimes brood 2 clutches in 1 summer.
But the feathered feet get muddy and it's harder to see if they have a scaly leg mite infection.
It also seems harder to spray their legs for scaly leg mite.
I found a Jubilee Orpington breeder and the breeder told me her stock has a tendency to go broody.
They are a large dual purpose breed and are cleaned legged.
So I bought a Jubilee Orpington rooster from her to cross with some Buff Orpington hens I already have.
I also traded Cochin hatching eggs for Jubilee Orpington eggs with her.
Looks like I got 2 Jubilee Orpington pullets and 3 Buff/Jubilee Orpington cross pullets from a June hatch.
I think they are around 7 weeks old now.
I believe that by crossing a heritage strain of Orpington with commercial hatchery stock(that doesn't brood)that some of the offspring will go broody..
At least that's what I'm hoping for..
I guess I will found out next year when the 7 week old Jubilee/Buff Orpington pullets are adults.

I purchased English Orpington (chocolate) from Hoover’s Hatchery last fall. By spring my ladies began laying and immediately went broody. Each of them hatched 2 clutches and a couple tried a third round this same summer but I’d had enough. Maybe this is the breed you need. They meet all of your criteria.

 

[bigz1983]

I purchased English Orpington (chocolate) from Hoover’s Hatchery last fall. By spring my ladies began laying and immediately went broody. Each of them hatched 2 clutches and a couple tried a third round this same summer but I’d had enough. Maybe this is the breed you need. They meet all of your criteria.

I got on TSC website and the website says they have chocolate Orpingtons available to ship.
But I think I might wait another month or two so it's warmer.
I heard baby chicks can easily die in shipping if it's cold outside.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm confused. If you want a breed that is somewhat broody and clean legged then why don't you just stick with the one variety of Jubilee Orpington? I'd not mix it with the hatchery stock buff at all. From what you're saying it's got everything you want.

Overly broody birds are a pain. Poor egg production and you run out of cages to bust them in. Barely get them back to laying and they start brooding again. Endless all summer long. It's a pain.

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I'm confused. If you want a breed that is somewhat broody and clean legged then why don't you just stick with the one variety of Jubilee Orpington? I'd not mix it with the hatchery stock buff at all. From what you're saying it's got everything you want.

Overly broody birds are a pain. Poor egg production and you run out of cages to bust them in. Barely get them back to laying and they start brooding again. Endless all summer long. It's a pain.

1 or 2 max. Otherwise so much agree

 

[bigz1983]

I'm confused. If you want a breed that is somewhat broody and clean legged then why don't you just stick with the one variety of Jubilee Orpington? I'd not mix it with the hatchery stock buff at all. From what you're saying it's got everything you want.

Overly broody birds are a pain. Poor egg production and you run out of cages to bust them in. Barely get them back to laying and they start brooding again. Endless all summer long. It's a pain.

I'm not really sure of the level of broodiness the Jubilee Orpingtons are going to be at.
The lady I got them from said she had one Jubilee Orpington hen go broody out of something like 10 jubilee hens.
I just think I will get closer to my target if I get chocolate Orpingtons from Hoover's.

 

[DarJones]

Pick a breed that is known to be moderately broody and produces large frame dual purpose egg and meat chicks. I suggest Wyandottes because they are moderately likely to go broody, usually in their second year of laying. They produce about 200 to 250 eggs per year. It is fairly simple to identify 2 or 3 that love to go broody and raise chicks from them.

I don't know if this trait is common in Wyandottes, but the birds I have are consistently tender and make good frying chicken at 6 to 8 months old. I slaughtered 4 excess roosters a week ago that hatched in June so 7 to 8 months old. They had not yet developed large testes and had not yet started crowing. Dressed out weight was about 3 pounds each.