Can you MAKE a hen go BROODY?

[Marans rule]

Im wonderin if a hen will go broody when she sees a nest full of eggs. Do you think I could just start leaving the eggs with her and she would hatch them herself?

 

[esther5]

hi
i lost 8 of my hens to a fox this week. just 3 left plus the mother with one baby who is in the garage. i thought we were fox proof because it had to get over a 6 foot fence then a 4 ft electric fence then a wire fence. i have a roofed enclosure arriving on monday at great expense....
anyway. i have a bunch of eggs and am very keen to try and hatch them. fortunately i forgot to refrigerate then the night before the fox visited so i have 8 fertile eggs (our only rooster is dead) and am experimenting with my gold laced orpington to see if she will sit on them.

she is in a hutch just big enough for her and the nest. the eggs are staying warm but she is intermittent about really spreading herself over them with that goofy broody look so i don't know if it will work. today is day 3. i guess i might candle the eggs tomorrow and see if any look promising.
still feel so upset about my chooks. we are shutting them up any time we are away from the home as i fear a return visit.

 

[esther5]

she is well and truly broody now and not at all keen to leave the nest. i will candle over the weekend to see if the poor start has affected the growing chicks....

 

[newduckie]

I was given six guinea eggs and I put them under a Plymoth rock hen that was broody and was sitting on some turkey eggs. I was just really hoping another hen would go broody in the two weeks that separated the dates for hatching. Didnt happen. I had Plymoth rocks going broody all the time until I really needed them to. The turkys hatched yesterday and I am in a mess. I had a hen today that was on a nest but probably not all the way broody, so I am trying what I have read on here. I put her in the nest with the eggs and put chicken wire over the front. Rigged up a waterer outside the wire where she can get to it. How long should I leave her. I checked tonight and the eggs were warm still. But she gets a little frantic every so often and she may break and scramble the eggs... They were not going to make it anyway and I broke my incubator last year... Sooooooo.... Here's hoping.

 

[bagawk]

Sorry .... reviving old thread. Found this in a search and was very interested.

I have the following hens:
Australorp
Buff Orpingtons
RIR's
RIR/Buff Orp cross
Wyandotte
Comets

Of these birds, which are most likely to be broody?
I get an average of 10 eggs per day. I'd love to know if any of you tried the rabbit hutch or bucket method and if it worked?
I'd love to see some hatched chicks! I dont want to deal with the incubator and introduction thing again. Ugh. lol

thanks!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sorry .... reviving old thread. Found this in a search and was very interested.

I have the following hens:
Australorp
Buff Orpingtons
RIR's
RIR/Buff Orp cross
Wyandotte
Comets

Of these birds, which are most likely to be broody?
I get an average of 10 eggs per day. I'd love to know if any of you tried the rabbit hutch or bucket method and if it worked?
I'd love to see some hatched chicks! I dont want to deal with the incubator and introduction thing again. Ugh. lol

thanks!

Orpingtons or Wyandottes would be your most likely to go broody.

 

[esther5]

we have successfully hatched several chicks in the hutch, shut in. i start them off on infertile eggs and swap them once broodiness is established.
not an expert but orpingtons make good broody hens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Are you saying that you isolated a non broody hen in a hutch with a batch of eggs, and she soon went broody? Can you please give more details? Was the hutch in the coop, how long b/fore she became broody? How soon did you allow the rest of the flock to have access to broody and her clutch, and how did it go? Where was the broody in the pecking order?

 

[esther5]

yes, there were no signs of broodiness. i picked 2 hens because we lost half our flock to a fox and i wanted to hatch the fertile eggs, some from the fridge. i picked orpingtons. both middle of the pecking order. the hutch was in the coop but the hens were shut away apart from brief excursions to eat and drink. i think it took about a week.

i don't ever leave broodies with chicks running with the others but the eggs did hatch and i would try it again. the hutch i used was like a square box so not much more room than a bucket really, just nest sized...

 

[lazy gardener]

Interesting. And how were they as mothers???