Quote:
I believe that most incubate since its a lot more convenient to plug in the incubator than wait for a hen to go broody. I would say its almost necessary if you're going to raise more than a few dozen per year. On the other hand, Its a lot less work to let a hen hatch and brood chicks. My guess is that if you bought dominiques, wyandottes, or any heritage type breed you would end up with one or two broody hens by default. I have a dozen dominiques from Ideal and a few of the hens went broody last year. This is just a personal preference, but in keeping with my interpretation of this thread, I think keeping silkies just to incubate and brood wouldn't be worth it. If your chosen breed won't go broody, I would add a breed that can be kept with all of your other birds and doesn't require special care (maybe silkies don't, I've never had one). Last summer I had 10 kraienkoppes and 3 sumatras that I got from Sandhill, and they all had to be broken from being broody at least once. Smaller game type breeds like these require very little care to do well, lay decently when laying, can be broody to a fault, and butcher just fine.
rich
I believe that most incubate since its a lot more convenient to plug in the incubator than wait for a hen to go broody. I would say its almost necessary if you're going to raise more than a few dozen per year. On the other hand, Its a lot less work to let a hen hatch and brood chicks. My guess is that if you bought dominiques, wyandottes, or any heritage type breed you would end up with one or two broody hens by default. I have a dozen dominiques from Ideal and a few of the hens went broody last year. This is just a personal preference, but in keeping with my interpretation of this thread, I think keeping silkies just to incubate and brood wouldn't be worth it. If your chosen breed won't go broody, I would add a breed that can be kept with all of your other birds and doesn't require special care (maybe silkies don't, I've never had one). Last summer I had 10 kraienkoppes and 3 sumatras that I got from Sandhill, and they all had to be broken from being broody at least once. Smaller game type breeds like these require very little care to do well, lay decently when laying, can be broody to a fault, and butcher just fine.
rich