Hen breed questing-broody or not?

[77horses]

My dad has two buff orp pullets, and four red star hens(two adults and two young pullets) The two red star pullets and the two buff orp pullets are still not laying, but they will start soon!

i heard that red stars aren't very good brooding hens. We never had success with trying to get our red star hens to sit on the eggs. They would just lay an egg and then leave it!

And I am pretty sure most of the eggs they lay are fertile, because the rooster always mates with them.
I was wondering if red stars are always not very good mothers?
Are buff orps good mothers? I read that they are just natural when it comes to being a broody hen. Is this true? Thanks!

 

[77horses]

we have started an incubator method, but it would be waaay easier to let the hens hatch the eggs out themselves. Plus, you don't need to turn them , keep temp. up, etc. do buff orp hens tend to be good broody hens?

 

[77horses]

anyone?

all i want to know is if buff orps are good broody hens?

 

[dancingbear]

Some of them are, some are not. I've read over and over how good they are for brooding, but I've have a couple dozen of them over the years, and I've only had two that brooded. Others claim they all do. All I can conclude is that there are different strains from different hatcheries, and if you're lucky, you'll have some from a broody strain.

You can't make a hen brood. They either have the genes for broodiness, or they don't. Most layer strains have had it bred out, in order to increase egg production.

If you have hens of a broody-type breed, sometimes increasing corn in the ration will increase body temperature, and it will trigger them to go broody. You can leave a few golf balls in some nests, and see if any of the hens decide to brood them. If they do, you'll know because they'll still be on the nest at night, and they'll usually ruffle up and sort of growl if you approach the nest. At that point, you could mark a set of eggs and put under her. I always mark and date eggs I set under a hen, so that when I check under her every day, (to remove any eggs that may have broken, or any that go bad. If an egg goes bad, you'll smell it) I can remove any new eggs that have been laid by other hens. She'll leave the nest once or twice a day to eat, drink, and defecate.

The best brooders I've had have been dark Cornish, light Brahma, and black Australorp. And some unidentified bantam mixes. Cochins are brooders, too.

 

[77horses]

ok thanks! I wonder if our hens will go broody.......

 

[deerman]

The redstar is a cross of 2 breeds. They will not breed true. They use White leghorn. The broodie has been breed out of them.
Would be rare for redstar to go broody.