Broody pullet

[Bp10244]

I have a roughly 8 month old Salmon Faverolle pullet who I now believe to be broody. So my question is, should I buy some eggs and let her hatch them, or is she still a little too young to be a mom? I’ve never had to deal with a broody in the past so we’re learning as we go!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

She is not too young. Many first time moms begin their first year of maturity.

She is untried, so don't spend a lot on those eggs.

Favorelles tend to be on the lower side of the pecking order, if not the bottom, so if she is in the main coop, you'll likely need to isolate her from the rest of the flock so she isn't pushed off the nest. You can do that with creative partitions, or by trying to move her to a better location. She will need her own food, water, and ability to go somewhere to poop...broodies will stay on the nest pretty much 24x7 getting up once a day to eat/drink and relieve.

Forewarning, if you try to move her, many hens, especially first time broodies, do not like to brood in a different location and will try to get back to the original location or simply break brood. If you move her, move her at night with dud eggs to see if she will take the move. Then after she has resettled, in a day or so, place the fertile eggs under her.

Flock brooding can be very successful, but only if you have the flock dynamics for it....ie a very chill flock and polite gals that don't tromp on the nesting mom.

LofMc

 

[chickens really]

I move my Pullet/ Hens all the time. I have never had a problem. I set up a Brooder, make a nest and put the Momma with feed and water. I walk away till she settles.

 

[HenHouse4Life]

What makes you believe she's broody? In my experience first timers won't stick it out and they can be broken fairly easy.
Do you have fertile eggs?
She's quite young, I wouldn't purchase chicks just for her. It's hard to say what she would do with/to the babies. Give her some time to grow and mature.

 

[Bp10244]

What makes you believe she's broody? In my experience first timers won't stick it out and they can be broken fairly easy.
Do you have fertile eggs?
She's quite young, I wouldn't purchase chicks just for her. It's hard to say what she would do with/to the babies. Give her some time to grow and mature.

Well every time I look in the best box, she puffs out all her feathers and does a little “screech” until I leave her be. If she’s not too young, I was probably going to buy some cheap eggs to see how she does, but should I wait a few days to see if she sticks it out?

 

[Bp10244]

She is not too young. Many first time moms begin their first year of maturity.

She is untried, so don't spend a lot on those eggs.

Favorelles tend to be on the lower side of the pecking order, if not the bottom, so if she is in the main coop, you'll likely need to isolate her from the rest of the flock so she isn't pushed off the nest. You can do that with creative partitions, or by trying to move her to a better location. She will need her own food, water, and ability to go somewhere to poop...broodies will stay on the nest pretty much 24x7 getting up once a day to eat/drink and relieve.

Forewarning, if you try to move her, many hens, especially first time broodies, do not like to brood in a different location and will try to get back to the original location or simply break brood. If you move her, move her at night with dud eggs to see if she will take the move. Then after she has resettled, in a day or so, place the fertile eggs under her.

Flock brooding can be very successful, but only if you have the flock dynamics for it....ie a very chill flock and polite gals that don't tromp on the nesting mom.

LofMc

She is the very bottom of the pecking order, but we are in the process of building a new coop or “chicken palace” as we’ve come to call it (it’ll be finished tomorrow) so she would have the entire old coop to herself and we wouldn’t have to move her.

 

[janiedoe]

@Bp10244 how are things with your broody? Is she still sitting?
I have a similar situation with two 8 mo. cuckoo marans. I tried breaking them but they are very persistant so I just gave them both eggs from my flock. ( I have two roosters. ) I have left them where they are sitting so far.
My older broody, a langshan has apparently stopped going broody since she hatched a couple of eggs last year. Up until then, she was broody 3 to 4 times a year. She was always easy to move and turned out to be a great mother. She was at the top of the pecking order and I let her raise her chicks with the flock. She only hatched cockrells who grew up to chase her, so maybe that's why she hasn't gone broody again. Lol.
Anyway, I'm wishing you luck with your broody! I hope you have a great hatch.

 

[cmom]

Curious minds want to know...

 

[Bp10244]

I actually made another thread because this one seemed to have died. But she’s going great!! I bought her some eggs and she’s been persistently sitting on them. She got them yesterday so the 23rd can’t come soon enough!

 

[janiedoe]

I actually made another thread because this one seemed to have died. But she’s going great!! I bought her some eggs and she’s been persistently sitting on them. She got them yesterday so the 23rd can’t come soon enough!

I let mine keep the eggs they have. I marked and counted them and will remove any extras each day. They have 26 between the two of them! Too many! I just left them because who knows, I'd probably remove all the potential pullets and wind up with a dozen cockrells. I will be happy if they hatch just a couple each. Be my luck they'll hatch all of them!