Going Broody Question

[steve232]

I have a flock of 12 chickens including one rooster. Included in that flock is a Buff Orpington hen thats nearly a year old now. This past fall she molted which I really didn't expect to happen that soon. Anyway in the last week she has started laying again. I hope for her to go broody sometime this spring and I intend to let her hatch a few baby chicks for me. I'm really hoping she don't go broody before mid March at the earliest so the coldest part of winter is gone. Any ideas on how long she might lay before going broody for the first time and would she be a good mother if I allowed her to hatch some chicks the first time she went broody ?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not every hen will go broody, I've owned many buff Orpingtons and only two were ever broody, so I wouldn't plan on anything unless you see her broody.

 

[aart]

Not every hen will go broody, I've owned many buff Orpingtons and only two were ever broody, so I wouldn't plan on anything unless you see her broody.

Ditto Dat^^^

Just because a breed is more likely to be broody, doesn't mean every bird of that breed will be broody.
.....and even if she does go broody, she will go when her hormones tell her too, not necessarily when you want her to...lol!!

Broodies are cool, fascinating to observe, I've had one and loved it...but use an incubator for my management plans.

 

[steve232]

I know I can't talk her into going broody but out of my 11 hens I just thought she would be the most likely to. Last summer I had a cuckoo maran that went broody. I gave her a small run that was covered in a tarp and put a nest in for her to set on 4 eggs. She seemed to be doing really good coming off the nest once a day that I know of and would only be off long enough to usually eat a few bites and sometimes take a quick dust bath and then back on. She ended up not hatching a single egg. Hoping this year one of them will go broody for me again. Don't have to be Buffy but was just thinking she was my most likely one to.