Broody hen

[turkeyman25]

What makes a hen go broody? My pullets just started laying, is there any habits or things I could start doing so when I wanna hatch eggs it will be easy?

 

[Sphynxii]

Hens go broody when they want to hatch babies, which means they will sit when they want you cant really force it. If you want them hatched out when ever you would probably need to incubate them.

 

[sdm111]

Hens go broody when they want to hatch babies, which means they will sit when they want you cant really force it. If you want them  hatched out when ever you would probably need to incubate them.

^^^this

 

[Sphynxii]

^^^this

^^^this? is this a bad thing? :O

 

[sdm111]

No means I totally agree, they'll pretty much go broody if and when they want as far as I know. And some breeds are more apt to go broody than others.

 

[Sphynxii]

No means I totally agree, they'll pretty much go broody if and when they want as far as I know. And some breeds are more apt to go broody than others.

Oh phew i thought i was giving out bad advice or something

 

[sdm111]

What makes a hen go broody? My pullets just started laying, is there any habits or things I could start doing so when I wanna hatch eggs it will be easy?

Just let them keep laying and see what happens once they get a clutch they should go broody

 

[sdm111]

Although I have a game hen that refuses and they're usually excellent brood mothers.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

What makes a hen go broody? My pullets just started laying, is there any habits or things I could start doing so when I wanna hatch eggs it will be easy?

What breeds are your pullets? As stated before, some breeds are much more inclined to sit than others. My Silkies are my go-to brooders. I scored some call duck eggs 2 days ago and had no interest whatsoever of artificially incubating them. So, I put those eggs in my Silkie coop and now I have a broody.
I've had hens of notoriously broody breeds that never sat too though. So, knowing what breeds your pullets are would be a good place to start

 

[LovedMyAlydar]

My little bantam English Game pullet is broody. She is just 6 months old. She is currently sitting on 4 eggs, 3 batman ones and on regular one. She would hog more if she could but we take them away. She gets really ticked off if you come near her and raises her hackles on her neck and her back if you try to get the new eggs from other chickens.

How do we know if the eggs she is sitting on are any good? If we need to check them, when is the first time we should candle them to see if all is well? How long should they take to hatch out?

This is our first time with girls that have a boy around. Not sure if the eggs are fertile or not but he is the only boy with 10 pullets so I am assuming he should be a happy fella.

Thanks.