Broody hens????

[JoBean1987]

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

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Any and all hens can go broody. It is a natural cycle that generally happens once or twice a year depending on breed.

 

[JoBean1987]

I hope I can get my girls to go broody

 

[cafarmgirl]

I agree that breed has a lot to do with it. Any hen can go broody but I've never, ever had a hatchery RIR or BR go broody on me. My Buff Orp's and bantam Welsummer's go broody on me constantly, sometimes my Sebright's as well. There's not much you can do to GET them to go broody though! They either have the urge to do so or they don't. And some hens will go broody and consistently give it all up after just a few days.

 

[centrarchid]

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.

 

[JoBean1987]

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.

I have 2 brahma hen 2 red rock 10 RIR 10 barred rock and 10 Columbian rock

 

[Mountain Peeps]

I have 2 brahma hen 2 red rock 10 RIR 10 barred rock and 10 Columbian rock

Your barred rocks and brahmas are probably most likely to go broody.

 

[JoBean1987]

I hope so. It would be nice to have a hen go broody next year. I've never had luck using an incubator. My last set had 118 and only 17 hatched It doesn't help that we had a lightning storm the last few days they were hatching

 

[Fentress]

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.

I would like to do this to correspond with setting up breeding pens. How often is this process successful? I have Kraienkoppes which is a type of game breed that I got for this purpose, but this year they were difficult to work with. Thet go broody frequently at all times of the year, but they don't seem to do a good job or I haven't learned to work with them yet.

 

[centrarchid]

My method is to set up about 10 or so hens that are in tip top condition as in lay or about to come into lay. I do all my own breeding so have roosters ready to cover hens. I make so rooster covers / mates hen every third day or so. This makes so hen and rooster can be housed separately most of the time. Generally a hen is quick to adopt a nest provide in shady dry location with a little straw or dry grass added. Even sometimes use oyster shell or wood pellets as well. Each hen has her own little 4' x 5' pen. They get the best nutrition I can provide through about day seven if an egg is produced every day, then cut back feed intake by about 1/3 which she be adequate for maintenance but not enough to support egg production. The cutting back on feed simulates the natural situation where a foraging hen has a hard time eating enough to keep her weight on and lay eggs. Typically more than 6 in 10 will go broody.