Broody Leghorn!! who knew!!

[beckycrouch5115]

So I got a white leghorn that has gone broody!!! This is my first experience with this. I only have one leghorn and the rest are rhode island reds. I have no roosters. I do have a friend of mine who gave me 7 eggs from her coop. She does have a rooster so hopefully at least of these bad boys is fertile!! Never thought I would have a broody hen since I own egg production birds but here we are!! I couldn't just break her, broke my heart, so I'm letting mother nature do it's thing!!! And yes shes in a flowerpot!!!! I tried moving her but boy she wouldn't have it!!! So i'm letting her do her thing! lol! Wish me luck!!!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi.

She's cute!

You could always adopt her chicks from the feed store... she doesn't have to sit as long, you don't have to deal with cockerels, and you can try other breeds if you like.

 

[Morrigan]

Wishing you good luck! I love that you are letting her brood. She sure picked a photogenic spot for her nest.

 

[SueT]

Oh gosh! Well just so you know, Rhode Island Reds are famous for going broody. Not so much for Leghorns, so yours is exceptional. Keep us updated!

 

[Miss717]

Love it. Good luck

 

[beckycrouch5115]

Hi.

She's cute!

You could always adopt her chicks from the feed store... she doesn't have to sit as long, you don't have to deal with cockerels, and you can try other breeds if you like.

I thought about doing that 2!

 

[beckycrouch5115]

Wishing you good luck! I love that you are letting her brood. She sure picked a photogenic spot for her nest.

I really tried to move her out of that old pot! But boy oh boy she wouldn't have it and I didn't want to force her so on the flowerpot she is! lol

 

[beckycrouch5115]

Oh gosh! Well just so you know, Rhode Island Reds are famous for going broody. Not so much for Leghorns, so yours is exceptional. Keep us updated!

I have never had any of my Rhode Island Reds go broody! Maybe they'll follow her idea!!

 

[J.Bird]

I had a leghorn, Leana, go broody a couple summers ago, and she was sitting on a bunch of eggs. My dad had found the nest and he said that there were still more hatching, but it appeared that one had died, so I went to take a look. There were two chicks that were already hatched, a black and white (they were silkie mixes) and a few more on the way, but yes indeed there was a dead one that had wandered away from the nest. I was on my way to burry it when I happened to take one last look at it. It moved. It was still alive! It most have gone into shock befrom the cold morning air and warmed up on my hand. I rushed it inside, got a heating pad and heated it up. Within no time, it was peeping and was back with its mother. I didn't want to disturb mother hen Leana, so I just put a bottomless cage around her to keep the cats out and let the hatching process be completed. It was the next morning when I had gone to check on them when something was wrong. The cage had been slid into a different location with Leana still underneath it and a racoon like turd off to the side. I checked for the chicks, but I only found three: a black, a white and the one we saved which I called Luckyspot because of the spot on her back. Now panicking, I quickly brought the chicks and hen inside into a safer location. Then I went to look for anything else I could have missed. All the eggs were gone. But then something got my attention: I heard peeping from in the horse barn. I ran over and looked and sure enough, there was another chick. It ran up to me and I reunited it with its mother and took one last look outside. I found another baby under the lawnmower which was a hastle to get out. With a grand total of only five chicks out of like 20 eggs, I was a little disappointed, but happy that I happened to save the 5 of them. Later on, after I had turned them loose (when they were bigger), another tradgedy struck. There was only one chick left, Luckyspot, the chick we saved. I looked everywhere, but found no sign of the others, all except for the body of the black chick. I was so sad, so mad. But the stroy gets only better from here. I woudln't have had any chicks left over if we didn't save Luckyspot from freezing. When she became a fulgrown hen herself, she had her own chicks. But as soon as we saw that they had started hatching, we got them into a safe enviroment so nothing could kill them. And Luckyspot's hatch rate was much better than that of her mother's. Almost all of her eggs hatched. Black ones, white ones, spotted ones, gray ones, and even a little partridge colored one. All beautiful and healthy. She has had at least 3 batches of chicks now, and each of her chicks was different in their own way. Some had smooth feathers like their mother and some carried a stronger silkie gene and had fluffy feathers. Some had extra soft and plushy feathers and one little roo, was the most beautiful, black and glossy green I've ever seen and had feathers of silk. Unfortunetly, we had to sell him because of his behavior towards the hens. Luckyspot lives o today, and will most likely have more babies. Good luck with your broody leghorn!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I really tried to move her out of that old pot! But boy oh boy she wouldn't have it and I didn't want to force her so on the flowerpot she is! lol

My ladies never move successfully where I want them to when they are just on eggs. I am very successful at moving them once they have chicks under they will stay until the chicks can follow them *usually*.

Adopting feed store chicks works great and I highly recommend it. Six day old is the absolute MAX, younger is better, during the night works best for me. I have 2 feed stores that get chicks each week and usually different than each other. I call them to see what they have and what they have coming in and plan accordingly to MY desires.

With her sitting in a flower pot... now ya got your next round of names for chicks... Petunia, Daisy, Marigold...