Broody Hen Thread!

[Kristin Brown]

From what I have seen in my own birds, the best broody hens I've had are Cochin and Brahma breeds. I noticed you mentioned your interest in Silkies. I haven't had this breed before but heard lots of good things about them! I'd be happy to add a couple Silkies to my flock one day perhaps.

 

[popsicle]

you mentioned your interest in Silkies. I haven't had this breed before but heard lots of good things about them! I'd be happy to add a couple Silkies to my flock one day perhaps.

I'm only interested in Silkies for brooding, and maybe as a mellow rooster to annoy my neighbors since they seem to think their constantly barking dog is such a joy.

 

[AlienChick]

Quote:
lol!

Good one!
And, yes, Silkies are great broody hens!

 

[soyful]

hi there can you tell me where can i buy broody hens in london please let me know thanks.

 

[TimBaumann]

Welcome to BYC!

I don't think there actually is a place to buy broody hens anywhere! Hens can't be really be controlled to go broody unless you inject them with hormones but that would be very evil and wrong! A hen will only go broody if she's ready and if you were to transport her to a new location she would most probably stop being broody! Your best hope would be to find someone that is selling their hen which is broody at the moment! And most likely if you take her home to your place she'd stop being broody! Some broody hens will even stop being broody if you just pick them up and move them around in your yard so I doubt that a hen would stay broody if she were moved to a new home!

 

[AlienChick]

Welcome to BYC!

I don't think there actually is a place to buy broody hens anywhere! Hens can't be really be controlled to go broody unless you inject them with hormones but that would be very evil and wrong! A hen will only go broody if she's ready and if you were to transport her to a new location she would most probably stop being broody! Your best hope would be to find someone that is selling their hen which is broody at the moment! And most likely if you take her home to your place she'd stop being broody! Some broody hens will even stop being broody if you just pick them up and move them around in your yard so I doubt that a hen would stay broody if she were moved to a new home!

I agree.

 

[TimBaumann]

There hasn't been a post on here for more than two weeks! So I guess I'll try getting it up again!

I have 3 broody hens at the moment! Two chicken and one quail! My first broody is my tiny bantam hen has been sitting on her eggs for 18 days! This is her second time broody but the first time her chicks all disappeared in one night! We're pretty sure that rats got them all! I could see that my little hen was extremely distressed shouting and flying onto walls and shouting more! It was very sad! But hopefully in 3 days she can finally have her well deserved chicks!

My second hen that wen't broody was my button quail! This quail was hatched in an incubator so I don't expect her to finish incubating or to be a good mom but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! She and her sister both take turns on the nest so up until now everything is great! I don't know how long exactly they have been sitting but I think the eggs should hatch about the same time as my small hens' eggs!

My third broody is a very small silkie hen that I got about 3 weeks ago with her sister! She hasn't even recovered fully from molting and is already broody! My rooster has never mated with her because the silkies were still kept separate from the rest of my flock when she went broody. But she has already been mated with by the silkie rooster on the farm from where I got them!! Two of her 6 eggs are fertile and look very healthy so I'm hoping to get some silkie chicks out of those! I also stuck some of the silkie eggs under my other broody bantam hen and 2 of them also look fertile so If I'm lucky I will get 4 silkies out of those eggs!

I'll post some pictures when the eggs hatched!

 

[Arkansas81]

Ive got a very broody hen, she is gold laced wyandotte. I haven't let her sit on eggs yet, but I plan on it in march. She gets very grumpy with me but not violent when I get the eggs daily. I'm excited to hatch eggs this spring, looks like a broody hen is the way to go for hatching eggs. I might even let my daughter buy some hatching eggs of breeds she wants. So far chicken raising is a lot of fun. I like this thread...good info!!

 

[TimBaumann]

awesome! Hopefully everything will work out well for you and your hen!

One of my quails' eggs hatched and I found the chick being dragged by the father and pecked with a bloody right eye! I took it away and warmed it up! Then I put some drops of sugar water on its beak and it drank it! Now it's hopping around, peeping and sleeping so I think it will survive! I also plan on giving it some electrolytes!

 

[Arkansas81]

Oh my!! Yea I'm hoping to be able to have somewhat success when we start letting eggs hatch. My daughter gets so attached to these little boogers. I so need to get my stuff ready for the new comers in a few months. I'm excites to have a bunch of babies running around. Good luck, let me know how the rest do