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Doylehomestead

Doylehomestead

In the Brooder
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Mar 30, 2015
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Yakima Washington
Hello all. I am a mother of 3 currently pregnant with the 4th. We have a place in Yakima Washington and have 24 Cornish Cross chickens that are about 4/5 weeks. Plus we have 6 Leghorns that are about 3 weeks. We want to grow our flock so that we can be as self sufficient as possible. We are seeing that buying the meat chickens as chicks is not the most cost effective way. So, I was wondering which breed would be best to buy so that they brood (is that correct) their own eggs or other eggs so we can hatch our own chicks that way?

I am super excited about learning from you guys about chickens and hopefully I can post helpful things for you guys at some point!

Gail
 
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Welcome! The breeds most likely to brood are silkies, cochins, orpingtons, and brahmas. There are also other breeds that brood often too like faverolles, old English game, and the list goes on. Leghorns, unfortunately, almost never brood - it's been bred out of the breed to improve egg production. If you'd like a dedicated broody in your flock, I'd definitely recommend a silkie. They aren't the best layers but they are excellent mothers.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Leghorns generally are not all that "broody" (when they have the desire to set on eggs) however it does happen sometimes. You can help to encourage them with curtains over the nest boxes for darkness and privacy, (broodies love dark corners) keep lots of fake eggs in the nest boxes to entice them. Other than that, you have to let nature take its course.

And you will need a rooster if you want fertile eggs. But Leghorns are great layers, so be prepared for lots of eggs!!

Enjoy this new journey you are on and if you have any questions about things, feel free to ask around the forums. Welcome to our flock!
 
Hello and Welcome to BYC! So glad you could join!
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I don't beleive that leghorns go broody very often (I've only raised a few). Broodiness has been bred out of most layer breeds so it's hard to find a breed that is a heavy layer and a good mama. Wyandottes, Dominiques, and Speckled sussux both are good layers, and will go broody. I have hatched eggs with all three of these breeds, and had pretty good success (though not like I have had with my barnyard game hens). Have you considered raiseing a few silkies? They are not the best layers, but are very well known for their broodyness. You might find some good advise on broody hens here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread/7600
Hope this helps!
 
If you want to raise a lot of your own chicks, you may need a few silkies, they are small birds and try as they may to cover everything they find in their nest, some eggs may slip out.
 
Thank you for the list of breeds! I will keep my eye out for those. We will get a rooster once we have the chickens to breed. I will keep in mind that they like dark places and may make a different "nursery" area for them once we have the rooster.

How does the rooster fertilize the eggs? Does he have to go into the box? How does he knew to do that?
 
Doylehomestead said:
Thank you for the list of breeds! I will keep my eye out for those. We will get a rooster once we have the chickens to breed. I will keep in mind that they like dark places and may make a different "nursery" area for them once we have the rooster. 

How does the rooster fertilize the eggs? Does he have to go into the box? How does he knew to do that?
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He mates with the hens :)
 
Yes, they come out fertilized, and if the mother never sits on it, it just doesn't hatch. You can eat them too, the only way you can tell they are fertilized is by looking very closely at the small white dot on the egg yolk. Infertile eggs it just looks like a dot, fertile eggs it looks like a bullseye. Otherwise, exactly the same.
 
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