Got to love 'Prone to be Broody' hens!

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! These 'Prone to be Broody' girls are Frizzle Cochins and CochinxSilkie crosses (you might remember this pic: 13 broody hens.
They hatched manymany eggs for me all summer again and only 5 girls were on eggs --- with the rest shut out of the coop taking a break from 'broody'.
My ducks just started laying again and I didn't want to start another incubator (got 3 going already), so I just set up another nest and added the duck eggs about 2:00 this afternoon and opened the coop. By 5:00, a hen had settled on the duck eggs. It's a little barred Cochinx and she hatched her last group of eggs in mid-Aug.
She's ready to go again!
Love those broody-girls!

Lisa
edited after restart because my computer lost it's mind for a bit ??

 

[newlyweds]

Wow those 13 broodies are too adorable. I am dying for my first broody, maybe I need to get me one of your girls.

 

[SilkiePuff]

LUCKY!! my Silkie hen is never broody!!.. I even let her keep 6 eggs one time thinking she would sit on them and brood them out.. I swear she has post-partaum depression, she wants nothing to do with the eggs once she lays them.

needless to say those eggs never made it to the incubator.. since I gave her the benefit of doubt to see if she would hatch them out.. NOPE.

any tips?

 

[olliecatch]

That is just awesome. Never had a broody hen. Maybe someday

 

[gryeyes]

WOW. I've had two broodies, so far, and they weren't simultaneous. Shirley Welsummer is due to hatch 4 eggs (we hope) on Oct 5th. I hope they hatch. If not, I may have to put some 2 wk old chicks with her to see if she'll take 'em.. It would be the first time I have tried that... maybe those would be too old.. dunno.

A week later a bunch of eggs in incubator(s) are scheduled to hatch, maybe I should wait for new hatchlings, instead... if her eggs don't hatch.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tsagirl]

Lisa,

That is so funny because your birds have this gene to be broody!

My little "Sally" the blue NN frizzle girl is ALWAYS broody. She has hatched sooo many chicks for me. I wish though that I had that many hens sitting, it would make life so much better. LOL!

Thanks for the picture, you seem to be having fun!

 

[Surehatch]

It can be a real pain if hens aren't broody

 

[Whispering Winds]

That is one of the cutest pics, going to save it and print it off for my chicken book. I took a little job at the local mom and pop grocery store last month, just filling in for the girls when they want an aft. or morning off, and a lady came in the other day and told told me she has a broody hen. I told her what she was doing, because she was telling me (she just moved her from California and is just the nicest funniest lady, and i am guessing she has never had animals before) that she is the meanest old hen she has ever seen and she doesn't know what to do with her. She said when she went to take the egg(s) out from under her, she turned into a vicious biting screaming old gal. She laughed as she was going out the door and said she was going to have to poke her with a stick . . .

. . .hope she was kidding!!! She thinks its too late in the year for Illinois hatchings, but I don't think so. We have cool/cooler mornings, but I bet that old hen would have time to get those babies up and feathered before they were in danger. What do you eggsperts think?

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
I'm in Central Illinois and I have 2 broody girls who just started and I'm letting them go. (Eggs from my lost roo and really want more of his babies!) I've had Thanksgiving babies. (Not planned, but mom hid and hatched them.) They were tough little birds and mom did a great job keeping them warm! Things turned out just fine.

? Does this lady have a mature roo ?