daft question

[clubby]

Hi folks !
Im all new to chickens so find some of the jargon goes way over my head ,for instance "broody" ,i have an idea what its about but why do people dread their hens going broody ?
I have a pair of 6month old lavender Pekins and the cock has been crowing now for a few weeks and is strutting his stuff ,it looks like hes mateing as well but its more like hes trying to kill her, poor thing,are they old enough and if mateing does take place does the hen "go broody"? id like to know what to expect so i have some idea of whats normal , i also have x-batterys (they started this whole thing)and last week the i bought another lavender Pekin with 2 chicks and 2 Orpingtons ,buff and white who im told are quite broody.
Cant believe at this stage of my life haveing raised a family im asking about the birds and the bees LOL

Thanks in advance

 

[LunarRayne]

Broody is when the hen is sitting on the nest. She is trying to hatch out chicks. They will sit and sit and sit, only to get up for a few minutes to eat and drink, then back to sitting.

People don't like hens to go broody because they stop laying and they are not eating as much. If they stay broody for too long they can get sick. I, personally, have not experienced this, as my 1 year old hen refuses to sit for an entire hatch and the others just started to lay.

Hope I helped some.

 

[Godsgrl]

Questions are great around here, and don't worry, we all have to start somewhere. It's better to ask then never to know.

Another thing about broody hens is that in a flock of chickens, if one hen decides to go broody, sometimes the entire flock of hens will quit laying until she hatches.

I don't know the reasoning on this one. Enjoy your birds, and feel free to come on back with future questions.

 

[lowry075]

My BO just stopped being broody. She has been that way a MONTH!

I dislike it because I don't have a roo and am not hatching chicks, it is hot for her to sit in the coop all day, and mine will not eat or drink unless I pick her up and remove her. It is just a bit more work to worry over her health, since they seem to only care about sitting on a nest. Some people want broody hens though becuase they have little ones to hatch. It's just what your preferences are for your flock, really.

 

[froggiesheins]

Quote:
Hi clubby and

from southern california. Bless you for taking in some battery chickens

As far as broody......yep they turn into this statue in the nest box and hiss like a cobra when you come near, I think it is hysterical

... I personally pry mine out of the box for R&R everyday and they get breakfast in bed every morning.

Enjoy your chickens!

 

[gryeyes]

"Broody" hens want to be mamas, to raise a brood of chicks. Their hormones drive them to try to hatch eggs by sitting on them 24 hours a day, with only one or two short breaks to eat, drink, and defecate. They do not roost at night, but stay on their nests. It doesn't matter if there is a rooster in the flock or not, so some hens may go broody on eggs which are fertile and will never hatch, or even on the "training" golf balls some folks put into nests so hens know where to lay their eggs. Even if you remove the eggs, they may be so broody they sit on nothing; it is quite common for broody hens to steal eggs from other nests. Other hens will often lay eggs in the broody hen's nest during the short period of time she is up and off the nest.

I have roosters, so when one or more of my hens go broody, I let nature take its course. Folks who depend upon eggs and only have a few hens may not be willing to let a hen stop laying and try to hatch eggs - it puts her out of production for incubation (21 days) and the weeks it takes her to raise the chicks, sometimes as much as 8 weeks, but more commonly 4 to 5 weeks AFTER the 3-week incubation period.

Not all hens go broody, as the trait has been bred out of many, many hatchery breeds. You also cannot make a hen go broody; either she does or she doesn't.

Hope this has been helpful....

 

[bertman]

clubby, if you click on the 'Learning Center' heading you will be taken to a page with a number of segments including one called the Glossary. It will give you a brief definition of most of the terms you may be unfamiliar with.

Hope this helps.

 

[clubby]

Thanks so much for the replys ,it all sounds very complicated ,im realy only getting used to holding them so i hope i dont have to go priseing the pekin hen off the nest as i dont want more chicks ,the pekin pair are seperate from the xbatts ,the other pekin hen with 2 chicks and the 2 orps are still in quarantine till the weekend .
the plan is to put the orps with the xbatts and to keep all the pekins together in their own little run ,altho one of the chicks is a cock so i dont know what il do with him ,i dont know what its like over your side of the pond but over here (ireland) the fancy breeds are are mostly sold in pairs trios and quads ,but i suppose its usualy the cock thats the colourfull ones,im trying to keep a lid on this so i dont get in over my head with more chicks than i know what to do with it ,as for the xbatts ,i dont mind if they never laid an egg ,its been great just to watch them doing everything for the first time .
Thanks againn