Can an incubator hatched hen become a sitting hen

[milleryardchx]

welcome to BYC i think everyone answered your question. Its the breed for example I have barred rocks, Rhode Island reds and one buff brahma that i have has for 18 months and none of them have ever gone brood on me but i get a ton of eggs from these girls. now my 20 week old hens aren't even laying yet but we will see if any of them go broody in the future

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
I've read that Partridge Rocks are broodier than the other Rocks, they haven't have it bred out like the whites, and most of the barred Rocks.

Anyway, it's true that sometimes a non-broody breed will brood anyway. But say you wait for them to grow up, wait all winter for spring to arrive, wait all summer to see if they brood, and they don't. Then you have to wait until spring rolls around again, (unless you get some eggs to incubate during the winter) then get some broody-breed chicks, (or eggs) raise those, wait for them to grow up, wait for spring again, and maybe then you'll get a broody.

Or you could save about 2 years waiting time (on the chance your non-broody breeds might brood anyway) and just go ahead and get some broody breeds to add to the flock to begin with. Then if the 'Dottes brood too, so what? Then you have more broodies!

I know a lady with Wyandottes, RIRs, and some sort of sex link, who's been trying for 5 years to get her hens to brood. She won't believe me when I tell her she needs some other breeds.

 

[Southern Chickens]

My incubator hen is making a wonderful mother! She just knows what to do. She has 15 with her now and 7 late comers in the house. She lays good and is a great mother. I wondered because she was raised in a brooder and never had a mother to show her what to do. Her instints kicked in and she's doing a great job!

 

[walkswithdog]

Quote:
I've read that Partridge Rocks are broodier than the other Rocks, they haven't have it bred out like the whites, and most of the barred Rocks.

Anyway, it's true that sometimes a non-broody breed will brood anyway. But say you wait for them to grow up, wait all winter for spring to arrive, wait all summer to see if they brood, and they don't. Then you have to wait until spring rolls around again, (unless you get some eggs to incubate during the winter) then get some broody-breed chicks, (or eggs) raise those, wait for them to grow up, wait for spring again, and maybe then you'll get a broody.

Or you could save about 2 years waiting time (on the chance your non-broody breeds might brood anyway) and just go ahead and get some broody breeds to add to the flock to begin with. Then if the 'Dottes brood too, so what? Then you have more broodies!

I know a lady with Wyandottes, RIRs, and some sort of sex link, who's been trying for 5 years to get her hens to brood. She won't believe me when I tell her she needs some other breeds.

Jenny or do what I did, assume you aren't going to get broody PRs and buy a bunch of other broody breeds and end up with about 15 chickens you suddenly don't need.

 

[dancingbear]

True, but extra hens are real easy to sell. Given a choice between possibly no broodies, and possibly too many broodies, I'll take the too many.

Put an ad on Craigslist that you have hens that brood, for sale. See how fast they sell. Easier to get rid of, than to get.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I agree with the others, I had always heard that as well. But I think most, if not all, of my hens are bator babies, and I think almost all of them are currently either setting on eggs, or have babies. The only problem I have is with one hen that doesn't take very good care of her babies. She does well, while she has them, but she leaves the chicks very early. She doesn't teach them how to roost or anything. They are just now going to roost, instead of back to the nest. I think they are 6 or 7 weeks old, and mama is broody again!! This hen is about 1 1/2 years old, and this is her 6th time brooding eggs