This post is just to encourage discussion and share stories. I'm not asking for advice as I am happy with how everything is going with my flock.
Welp, I did something right to encourage broodiness. I have 12 FBCM pullets that I purchased from Murray McMurray almost exactly 1 year ago. 7 of them have gone broody so far. The first 4 went broody in October/November so I just let them get over it. I currently have one hen with chicks that hatched last week and 2 more just went broody tonight. I also have Cochins, Orpingtons, Wyandottes, and Ameraucanas (EE's from McMurray) and the only other case of broodiness I've had is with a single Cochin. It's either the FBCM breed or the environment that I've created for them that's causing the broodiness.
To capture the husbandry/environment for record, here's the details:
Welp, I did something right to encourage broodiness. I have 12 FBCM pullets that I purchased from Murray McMurray almost exactly 1 year ago. 7 of them have gone broody so far. The first 4 went broody in October/November so I just let them get over it. I currently have one hen with chicks that hatched last week and 2 more just went broody tonight. I also have Cochins, Orpingtons, Wyandottes, and Ameraucanas (EE's from McMurray) and the only other case of broodiness I've had is with a single Cochin. It's either the FBCM breed or the environment that I've created for them that's causing the broodiness.
To capture the husbandry/environment for record, here's the details:
- Environment - Colorado, 7,000' elevation. High, Dry, and Cold.
- Coop - 12'x16' Wooden Shed with high ceiling, housing 28 hens and 4 roosters. A rack of roosts reaching 6' high facing homemade roll-away nesting boxes mounted on the wall at 1' and 2' high. 3 small windows on the east, north, and south walls. Low natural lighting.
- Nesting boxes - 12 boxes. Bottom made with fake grass/turf (cheap stuff) from Home Depot. In 4 of the boxes, there is a golf ball anchored to the center of the box with a string, so they can move it around about 2 inches as they please. The openings of the nesting boxes are fixed with curtains made from pieces of a cut up light blue bed sheet.
- Lighting - Automatic lighting on a timer, giving them 14 hrs of light per day. I adjust the timer at the beginning of each month. Lights come on early in the morning. No evening artificial light.
- Enclosure - Free range. The coop has a homemade automatic door opener that works off of a solar sensor. The door opens 20 minutes before sun rise and shuts 20 minutes after sunset. They roam as far as they wish on our 40 acre property.
- Predators - Very few that are brave enough to face two 100 lb+ Rottweilers that protect the birds. We've lost 2 birds in the past year, assumed to be a raccoon in the early morning.
- Feed - a self-designed blend from the local COOP including Whole Corn, Wheat, Milo, Soy Bean Meal, and Poultry Premix at 18.8% Protein. Costs me $7.08 for a 50 lbs sack - much cheaper than the feed stores, and they lay an average of 18 eggs/day. Not bad for 28 hens, most of which are average to poor layer breeds.
- Water - Very good well water.
- Bedding - None. The coop is for sleeping and laying. They spend almost all their time outside.
