Buff Orpington and broodiness

[dreiman9]

Hi all,
New to raising chickens, haven't started yet but planning on getting chicks delivered for early April. In CT and was thinking about getting 6 hens made up of barred rocks and buff orpingtons. They will be be kept on a coop that will be placed in a fenced in 3 acre lot for them to free range. It's about half grassy pasture, half woods and lambs will be in there with them. Top concern right now is whether the broodiness of buff orpingtons should scare me away from the breed. During the week I work full time so I don't thin will be able to break them of their broody behavior when it strikes.

I don't care so much about the lack of egg production during this period, but will it lead to health problems in the buff or problems with others in the flock? Would you recommend me staying away from this breed? Any tips or recommendations appreciated

Thanks for the help

 

[Peeps61]

Hi -

I've read a lot about Buffs being broody, but the two that I've had for the last three years have never been broody and are good egg producers. I have broodiness problems with my cochin hen more than any other of my birds.

Personally, I love my Buffs and will get more when these die off. They are in my oldest generation of my multi-generational flock, so they are pretty dominant and don't get bullied, but neither do they bully.

It's really up to you and what you want for your flock!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My hatchery Orpington hens have never gone broody, show bred never stopped, so source is more important of a factor than breed.

 

[DanEP]

Hatchery buffs will go broody but usually not that often. Even if they do go broody on you it's not that hard to break them while working full time, I've done it a lot of times.You don't need to be home for them to sit in a wire bottomed cage till they break.
Buffs and barred rocks would be a good blend to start with if your new to chickens.

 

[dreiman9]

Thanks for the input. For the wire bottom cage, any reason it wouldn't work while in the coop as long as their is an air gap on the bottom? Not planning a completely secure run so just don't want to leave them to exposed outside

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My broody breaking pen is inside my shed, if you catch then right away they can be broken in two or three days, the longer they are broody the longer it takes, I put them in it the minute I hear the distinct clucking of a broody, I have found the sound to be contagious, and half the flock can get the idea from it, so into the box they go.

 

[aart]

Thanks for the input. For the wire bottom cage, any reason it wouldn't work while in the coop as long as their is an air gap on the bottom? Not planning a completely secure run so just don't want to leave them to exposed outside

No reason at all.

Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.



My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.