Can I make my chickens sit?

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mckee farms

mckee farms

Chirping
Jan 26, 2015
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New Alluwe Oklahoma
I have some game hens that are laying and my RIR, will they sit on their own and hatch the eggs? or do I need to gather them and hatch them myself. I would rather they did it, an help is appreciated. thanks.,
 
You apparently can't make them sit, but some chickens are more likely to sit than others. It doesn't matter which chicken sits on them either. You will still want to collect the eggs though, check for viability and defects in fertile eggs, and keep the nest box clean.

This may or may not be common or in any way reliable, but one of our hens is prone to getting broody, and I've noticed that the longer there are eggs in the coop, the more she will sit on them. We don't have a rooster though so I dont know if this is a way to make her go into full on brood mode since we try to avoid that.

You should try to do some research on the subject by floating around the topics on this sight, I know these questions have been asked before, try searching for them!
 
My mind is gone . At first I thought you meant - you wanted chickens to sit, like when you command a dog. Be kind I am old and feeble. I'll try again, some breeds have strong broody instincts like silkies, cochins, buff orps. They can and often do go broody. Either folks love that because they become nature incubators, or they hate it because they stop laying eggs for the duration. While they are seriously broody (staying on eggs) you can put eggs of any breed under them and they will hatch and raise them as their own. Some even use broody hens to hatch turkey eggs or ducks. There is some confusion at hatch - hens get upset when their "duck" babies want to swim etc. But in general things go well.
 
:lol: I did too! :lau

Hello!
400

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to joined the BYC family.
 
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Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! I too have to admit I thought you wanted to train your hens to to sit like a dog from your title :gig Here is an article on broody hens in the link > https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/broody-hens I hope you find it useful I am sure you will lots of great information to read in it.

Wishing you the very best of luck. Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat :frow
 
absolutely great posts here!

welcome aboard, and don't let the fact that some of us thought you were trying to train your chicks like they're dogs discourage you!
lau.gif
 
welcome-byc.gif
glad you joined us.

Broody is hormonally caused and I don't think you can make that happen. IMO if you don't have a broody girl and want to hatch, then you'll need to set up an incubator. You can get more opines and advice under incubating and hatching forum.
 

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