I would love to have a broody hen and I was wondering does that hen have to come from a hen that's hatched out it own eggs or can any hen go broody? I have RIR, Barred rocks and Columbian rocks and 2 brahmas
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Breed is important. What breed(s) do you have? First get a hen to come into lay and make so she has her own nest. To control stress I keep such hens also in their own pen which enables control over their feed intake. Once the number of eggs in nest is about 7 cut back on feed which should cause her to exhaust her nutrient reserves. She will lay a few more eggs before the broody hormone cascade shuts egg production off and gets her to want to set.
I do this with game hens so that I can get several to hatch of within about a week of each so offspring can be combined into a single group once weaned.
Your barred rocks and brahmas are probably most likely to go broody.I have 2 brahma hen 2 red rock 10 RIR 10 barred rock and 10 Columbian rock
Breed is important. What breed(s) do you have. First get a hen to come into lay and make so she has her own nest. To control stress I keep such hens also in their own pen which enables control over their feed intake. Once the number of eggs in nest is about 7 cut back on feed which should cause her to exhaust her nutrient reserves. She will lay a few more eggs before the broody hormone cascade shuts egg production off and gets her to want to set.
I do this with game hens so that I can get several to hatch of within about a week of each so offspring can be combined into a single group once weaned.