Broody Black Australorps

[Shrader]

Four of the 5 Black Australorps I got from Meyer last spring have gone broody in the last few months!
Is this normal for this breed -- or did I just luck out?

 

[silky ma]

Sounds fast to me, but some just want to be mamas!!!!

 

[Lothiriel]

i had a broody BA. she went broody 2 times b4 she was "too old." every spring for the 2 years we had her she would be a "puffball."

i'm not sure if it's "normal" for BA, but it may be like silky ma said - they just want to mamas!

 

[ChickyPooh]

Most hens go broody but not all. if you have a broody hen I've heard (and this might be mean but it works) that you can get a bucket full of water and dunk her in it a couple of times upside down and she'll stop being broody.
We tried it on my RR hen and it really work and shes no worse for ware.

yay!!! no mean puffy hen!!! lol

 

[SueNH]

My australorps are all very broody.

 

[ChickyPooh]

Never mind. You know I was just joking about the water right?

 

[Chirpy]

I have four Australorp hens that were a year old in March. One went broody one month ago.

 

[Shrader]

ChickyPooh: Ha ha ha! I had my bucket all ready. Good thing I checked back in. (Just kidding.)

Chirpy: I'll be curious to find out if more of your Australorps go broody.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Ther heritage Australorps will go broody, hatchery ones not so much usually.

I have a broody aussie right now too..... she is driving me crazy, not tame in the least so if she just hears me coming towards the nest box she freaks and bolts out of it brekaing all eggs in the nest.

 

[Chirpy]

fancyfowl4ever wrote:

Ther heritage Australorps will go broody, hatchery ones not so much usually.

That's interesting. I got mine from the local feedstore last year so I'm assuming they are from a hatchery. If that holds true then I'm guessing that I may not have any others go broody (which is fine - I don't need anymore broodies, I need their eggs!). It will be fun to see what happens in the next year with these girls.

We are very fortunate that our hens all let us pick them up and hold them. This broody growls and puffs up but will let us pet her even while she's on the nest. I let the kids pet her for the first two weeks and then we pretty much left her alone for the last two weeks (I didn't get fertile eggs under her until her second week so she has actually sat for month now ... she hatched out one chick four days ago!).​