how do I get a hen to be broody?

[stegchick5]

I've only been raising chicks since last summer and I want to raise my own chicks. I don't believe I have noticed any of my hens being broody. I put four of my buffs with two roosters today hoping to get them to brood. Any suggestions on getting a hen to be broody?

 

[kuntrygirl]

It's all up to the hen. She will go broody when she gets ready. There is nothing that we can do.

 

[bakerjw]

The only sure way to get them to go broody is to not want them to go broody.

It's kind of a catch 22 chicken thing.

 

[bethandjoeync]

I don't think you can really "make" them go broody. but you can make their area favorable for brooding. get ya some fake eggs and leave them in a nice fluffy nest. and when your girl decides to set on them for good, then you can carefully replace them with fertile eggs!

it's all about timing though. usually(after reading lots of posts on here) the hens you WANT to go broody, don't. but the one you DON'T want to go broody, will! good luck!

 

[stegchick5]

Thanks for the replys. I guess just time and patience then.

 

[sourland]

Be patient. The Broody Magician will try to work a little magic for you.

do a little dance

n sing a little song

walla

It generally takes between 10 and 14 days for the spell to take affect. Hope these don't end up at Gritsar's.

 

[Attila the Hen]

Actually, I have a question. Why put fake eggs in the nest instead of leaving real eggs in the nest. They shouldn't go bad right? And if I suddenly found the hen had gone broody my only available fertilized eggs would be in the fridge.
I'm obviously a newbie also. I will be so dissappointed if no one goes broody.
Can you work your magic for me too?

 

[bethandjoeync]

Quote:
it is easier to keep track of the incubation period (21 days) if you know when day 1 is. so if you start from fake eggs and when the chicken decides she is ready to sit, and you switch out the eggs, then you can mark them(some do this to keep track of if they are being turned by the little momma) and start counting the days. some also candle the eggs on certain days, even though momma hen is incubating them.

also, if you are collecting eggs each day, as long as you leave them unwashed then you don't have a need to put them in the frig. and leaving them on your counter will not start the development processes unless your house is pretty much a steam room. but people have hatched refrigerated eggs, and have had success.

do a search and see what you can find about hatching your own eggs and storage and such.

HTH!

 

[elmo]

Do you have breeds of chickens known to go broody? If not, then you'll need to be extremely lucky for this to work.

I have bantam breeds known for their broody tendencies, and what I did last spring was just stop collecting eggs. When a clutch of 6 eggs had built up (with three hens contributing, this only took 2-3 days), the highest ranking hen claimed that nest and started incubating the eggs. The remaining two hens went to work building up a clutch on a second nest, and the second ranking hen then claimed that nest when the clutch reached 6 eggs. The third hen had to work all by herself to build up a clutch and of course that took longer, but she sat down to brood right on schedule at 6 eggs.

I believe different breeds of chickens set different size clutches, and perhaps even different individual hens have their own ideas about that, too. Strange to think about chickens being able to count.

Good luck! I hope it works for you. The experience of watching broody hens hatch and raise their own chicks will go down for me as one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It's wonderful!

 

[Attila the Hen]

Thanks so much for your input and I appreciate being able to use someone else's question too.
I think I may try the "natural" 6 egg accumalation method. The thing is they collected a dozen eggs in one nest under the coop before I caught on and no one was sitting on it. I have Buff Orpingtons. They are less than one year old so perhaps I will have to wait a bit longer. They're such precious souls.
thanks again