Can you make a hen go broody?

[RollinWithTheStones]

Come spring I want chicks and I want a hen to care for them. Will they automatically go broody in the spring or is there a way i can make them go broody?

I have no rooster so all fertile eggs will need to be bought and placed under them. Also I've tried golf balls and they get played with, considering wooden eggs instead.

 

[Lollipop]

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Mark a couple eggs and leave them in the nest. No, you can`t MAKE a chicken go broody, but you can encourage her, if she is of a breed that broods. There are more chicks hatched in the spring than any other time of year, so that`s your best shot. Good luck.......Pop

 

[Ksane]

What kind of chickens? My 3 Cochin bantams just now started laying and they want to sit on each and every egg. I take the eggs every day and the red one bunches up a pile of straw and sits on that lol Some breeds are a lot more prone to want to hatch anyting, Cochins and Silkies are said to be the most broody. One lady said her Silkie sat on a tennis ball all winter.

 

[stoopid]

You are almost asking a question like, "Can I make someone want to have children?"
Some breeds go broody more often than others, some do it well, others, well, not so well.
Some breeds have actually had it bred OUT of them, for the egg industry, as a broody won't lay.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

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I have a white cochin (hasn't laid an egg yet)
two EEs
one New Hampshire (previous owner banded her in the spring because she was broody and hatched, he then said he had to break her one other time this summer)
Two Banties
I have a Black Austrolorp
I have a Black Sexlink

 

[Ksane]

I bet the Cochin will sit on ALL their eggs once she starts laying lol My sex links drop eggs wherever and just keep walking.

 

[bikerchic]

I agree about the cochin. Mine laid about 2 eggs and decided she needed to become a mother! She's now sitting on 6 eggs and is a thief. I had to mark all her eggs to keep them separate from the ones she steals.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

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How long did it take your cochin's to start laying? My girl is 7 months now, her comb has been the same shade of red since I got her.

 

[bikerchic]

Mine was 7 months old when she started laying. I have another who is the same age (almost 8 months now) and just started laying this week. Cochins seem to be late developers, but are excellent broodys.

 

[ChicKat]

Quote:
I have a white cochin (hasn't laid an egg yet)
two EEs
one New Hampshire (previous owner banded her in the spring because she was broody and hatched, he then said he had to break her one other time this summer)
Two Banties
I have a Black Austrolorp
I have a Black Sexlink

Sounds like you have a pretty good chance. "Fake Eggs" are available on eBay and you could leave them there for your chicken to "practice". I have also heard that lots of calcium in their diet provides the nutritional elements that help them produce that hormone that makes them broody. Look for all the advice that says--"do (such and such) so that your hen won't go broody" and then do the opposite!!

Good luck.