California - Northern

[EZFarms]

*has 23 "chicks" in a pen with older girls* so yeah they arent quite adults but arent fuzz balls they are in the awkward stage and the chirping.hasnt helpex any

 

[ronott1]

*has 23 "chicks" in a pen with older girls* so yeah they arent quite adults but arent fuzz balls they are in the awkward stage and the chirping.hasnt helpex any

By and large, most hens do not go broody. You may get one or two a year. It has been bred out of chickens because broody hens do not lay eggs.

I hope you get a Broody, but sometimes you just do not.

 

[PetRock]

By and large, most hens do not go broody. You may get one or two a year. It has been bred out of chickens because broody hens do not lay eggs.

I hope you get a Broody, but sometimes you just do not.

Be careful what you wish for! I just wanted 2 or 3 broodies and now almost every single nest box has a broody or 2 or 3 in it! Plus I have several mamas with babies running around the yard.

 

[ronott1]

Be careful what you wish for! I just wanted 2 or 3 broodies and now almost every single nest box has a broody or 2 or 3 in it! Plus I have several mamas with babies running around the yard.

I have three--all of them from breeder stock and not hatcheries.

Splash barnevelder
Blue Australorp
Pita Pinta

Out of 40ish hens.

 

[Kaylish]

Be careful what you wish for!  I just wanted 2 or 3 broodies and now almost every single nest box has a broody or 2 or 3 in it!  Plus I have several mamas with babies running around the yard.  :cd

X2! I've had 3 in my layer flock go broody - a LF Cochin, her daughter (1/2 bantam) and a Crested Cream Legbar, all from breeders. If you really want a broody find a bantam Cochins or Silkie from a breeder. I swear mine would try and hatch rocks if there was nothing else

 

[PetRock]

I have three--all of them from breeder stock and not hatcheries.

Splash barnevelder
Blue Australorp
Pita Pinta

Out of 40ish hens.

Only 1 of my broodies is from a hatchery. She is a 5 yr old black Australorp who is one of our original chickens and the top hen of the flock. She has been a good mama in the past so she got eggs. The funniest ones are my big black Langshan. For some reason, they prefer to sit in tandem. They don't do very well with the incubating/hatching. They are so big that they tend to squish the chicks when they are close to hatch or hatching. But they willing accept day old chicks. Twice now, they have raised the chicks together for a week or so and then 1 of the 2 boogies and leaves the other one to finish raising them. I have 3 mamas who are currently raising several age groups of chicks. The other mamas have cut them loose at around 4 weeks and they just go under one of the other mamas at night. It is so cute to see a big, black mama with lots of cute little Pita Pinta chicks! I need to get some pics or a video of them.

 

[ronott1]

Only 1 of my broodies is from a hatchery. She is a 5 yr old black Australorp who is one of our original chickens and the top hen of the flock. She has been a good mama in the past so she got eggs. The funniest ones are my big black Langshan. For some reason, they prefer to sit in tandem. They don't do very well with the incubating/hatching. They are so big that they tend to squish the chicks when they are close to hatch or hatching. But they willing accept day old chicks. Twice now, they have raised the chicks together for a week or so and then 1 of the 2 boogies and leaves the other one to finish raising them. I have 3 mamas who are currently raising several age groups of chicks. The other mamas have cut them loose at around 4 weeks and they just go under one of the other mamas at night. It is so cute to see a big, black mama with lots of cute little Pita Pinta chicks! I need to get some pics or a video of them.

Yes, get some pictures and a video!

The blue australorp is broody for the second time this year. She did not want to have anything to do with chicks though. The splash barnevelder was a great mom last year. I do not know about the pita pinta.

 

[OR4-hmom]

My second hatchery order I ordered breeds that were listed to broody occasionally. The partridge rocks turned out to be the most broody and excellent moms. Right now I have a six year old light Brahma sitting on anything I'm slow to collect. It's her first time and I don't have anything fertile for her. I was hoping for some ducklings for her but little fuzzies are in short supply here, the hatcheries were shorting the orders, everything is going back east.

I swear it only takes "Egg Song" to prompt the non-hatchery birds up here!

 

[capayvalleychick]

Godiva's necropsy came back with an MG diagnosis...I am happy that I know the answer and confused and sad about next steps.

I want to do the responsible thing but am unclear what that means exactly so please tell me. Thanks!

This unfortunately struck me when I had 3 broodies raising a total of 18 chicks. I was obviously not planning to keep them all. Most of the chicks were in the pens NOT affected though they had certainly been exposed in some way as the morning before Godiva's symptoms showed up they all ranged together. Anyway. Thanks in Advance for telling me clearly my next steps. There is conflicting information out there and I know I can count on you.

I'm very sorry to hear that. MG is one of those things that is spread by wild birds. So, if your birds free range or are exposed to wild birds at all, they are at risk of being exposed. I have posted my experience and opinions on this a few times. You can search through my posts to find it or pm me, if interested.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

My second hatchery order I ordered breeds that were listed to broody occasionally. The partridge rocks turned out to be the most broody and excellent moms. Right now I have a six year old light Brahma sitting on anything I'm slow to collect. It's her first time and I don't have anything fertile for her. I was hoping for some ducklings for her but little fuzzies are in short supply here, the hatcheries were shorting the orders, everything is going back east.

I swear it only takes "Egg Song" to prompt the non-hatchery birds up here!

There's a few different hatching eggs available via the Medford Craigslist

I was looking at all 3 local CLs (Oregon coast, Medford, and Humboldt), so I don't remember which was on which list, though...