how can i get one hen to go broody

[Ridgerunner]

It’s possible any of your hens can go broody at any time, it’s possible none of them ever will. Production hens have pretty much had the broodiness bred out of them, they don’t lay eggs when broody so after a few generations of going broody being a fatal condition you get a flock that just doesn’t go broody a lot. They hatch eggs with an incubator so they don’t want or need broody hens. Some people do get a Rhode Island Red or a commercial hybrid sex link go broody but that is really rare. On the other the hand decorative breeds usually have not had the broodiness bred out of them since they are still cute when they are not laying eggs.

Like the other posters I’ve had breeds that are supposed to go broody a lot but the hens I had never did. It’s very much an individual hen thing though breed has a lot to do with the odds. Both the Orps and OEGM are supposed to be broody breeds. Those are your best bets.

I’ve tried letting fake eggs and even marked real eggs stack up to entice a broody a few times. One time I got a broody but that was in a nest without a stash. I don’t think that counts.

Broodiness can be bred into a flock. When I final got a couple of broody hens I hatched eggs from them and kept some of those chicks as replacements. That includes the cockerel as well as pullets, males pass on those genes too. I hit the jackpot one year with the rooster I kept. All his daughters went broody at least once, some several times a year.

There are a few things about broodies that are certain. They control when they go broody (if they go broody), you don’t. They go broody when they want to, not when you want them to. The only way you can control timing is to get an incubator and don’t be afraid to use it.

Something else that doesn’t work, showing them a KFC poster and explaining how it is in their best interests to go broody. They’ll just ignore you and act like they don’t understand.

 

[N F C]

@Ridgerunner
"Something else that doesn’t work, showing them a KFC poster and explaining how it is in their best interests to go broody. They’ll just ignore you and act like they don’t understand."

 

[lazy gardener]

I know plus my sexlinks were once battery chicks no way possible they will go broody. Lol sexlinks rarely go broody and dont produce healthy offspring i heard?

This is one of those "they said" old wives tales that is often repeated. It all depends. Sex linked birds are often hatchery bred. But not always. Sex linked only means that a rooster of a particular feather coloring/breeding is bred to a hen of an other specific feather pattern/color/breed which produces chicks that can be identified at hatch.

Even a chick hatched from a hatchery sex linked bird x a roo from your flock is likely to possess that hybrid vigor, be a good layer (though perhaps not as good as her mother) and will be far less likely to succumb to reproductive issues than her mother was.

Sex linked chicks can easily be produced in the home flock by crossing certain heritage or pure breeds. Such chicks can be gender id at hatch, and are wonderful birds, possessing hybrid vigor, as well as being bred to more likely excel in the environment or climate in which they were bred. Most of my sex linked chicks have pea or walnut combs, and lay aqua or green/olive eggs. They are super healthy, and are wonderful layers.

As for getting a hen to go broody: your best luck will be when the days start getting longer. (though I've had to break 2 broodies in the last month.) I'd not encourage broodiness as we head into winter, unless I was in the south!

 

[CSAchook]

@Ridgerunner
"Something else that doesn’t work, showing them a KFC poster and explaining how it is in their best interests to go broody. They’ll just ignore you and act like they don’t understand."

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