Hoping for a broody

[shodack]

I have two barred rock and two black australorp hens, a bit over six months old. All are laying, three quite consistently. All hatchery stock. Is it unlikely that any of them will ever go broody? I'd love to have one of them hatch some eggs some day...

 

[Alex1010]

My BA Is Broody Right Now, She's Been On The Eggs For 3 Days I Just Candeled Them & They're All Growing Great!

 

[Pork Pie]

I am not familiar with the breeds in terms of broodiness, but generally yes, hens do go broody. A word of caution though - first time broodies often get confused and its not uncommon for them to sit in a nest (regardless of whether eggs are there or not) all night and day and then suddenly decide to leave the nest for a few hours - not the way to hatch eggs for sure!

If you do have one go broody, put some "sacrificial" eggs under her and see if she sits correctly (i.e. leaving nest for only a short time each day to eat / drink / poop). If she seems happy doing this, then replace the sacrificial eggs with some you want to hatch.

Good luck
CT

 

[N F C]

I have had both BR and BA in my mixed flock. None of the BR's have ever gone broody but 1 of the 2 BA's were very determined in her broody behavior. It was pointless as we had no fertile eggs for her to sit on and I wasn't at a point of being able to add to my flock. She loved nothing more than to sit on any egg in the nesting box I hadn't picked up yet and screech at me whenever I tried to remove them. She was going broody about every 3-4 weeks and riling the other chickens up because she would chase them out of the nesting boxes. I finally re-homed her to a friend who needed a broody.

You might find the chart in this link interesting, it provides information on breed traits (including broodiness):
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

 

[shodack]

Thanks everyone! Great information here.