Broodiest?

[Chickfever]

Which breed is the broodiest for you? How many eggs can you usually set under her (bantam and lf)?

 

[BellLisamo]

ive got this mixed leghorn thing, and she wouldnt move if there was a flood

 

[Jennings Gamefowl]

SILKIES are the best.. mine can sit on about 6 or 7 bantam eggs

 

[Southernbelle]

Silkies are the broodiest I've seen, but other people swear by Cochins or game birds, too. I have 10 Silkie hens and at any given time 1/3 to 1/2 of them are broody year round. I maintain a Silkie flock just to hatch for me.

The general rule is that a hen can handle about 12 eggs the same size she lays. So I give a banty hen 12 banty eggs or 6 standard eggs. Typically I give them a few less in the dead of winter to make sure they can cover them all adequately and conversely, you can probably give them a few extra in the heat of summer.

 

[KLH2010]

Not trying to steal the thread but are standard silkies as broody as bantam silkies?

 

[Chickfever]

I'm looking for a few hens to hatch for me. My dh's uncle has game and I can "borrow" them anytime but I'd like to have some of my own. I've got 2 silkies but have no idea if they are pullets or roos

.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I have never had a silkie go broody and I have had tons of them. Some cochin bantams are broody but largefowl cochins are better broodies. In my experience the wyandotte bantams are the BEST broodies. They are always dependable and broody year round it seems. So far the whites havent showed any signs of being broody but they are show birds. Another of my best broodies ever was a silkie x cochin crossed with an australorp x brown leghorn. She laid like 5 eggs her first year and was broody the rest.

But yeah overall for me the wyandotte bantams are the best broodies.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

In hte US all silkies are bantams; in other parts of the world there are both standard & bantams. US silkies are larger than their bantams, but smaller than their standards.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
In the US only bantams are available that I'm aware of. Poulets de Cajun is our resident Silkie expert, so he would know better than me.

 

[KLH2010]

Thanks for the info. You can tell how much experience I have with silkies!