How do i make my Hen go broody?

[DuckLady]

Folks, let’s get back on topic and try to be kind to our members.

 

[lifein1840]

Hi ow do i make my hens go broody to hatch eggs?

What breeds are your hens? If they are breeds that are likely to go broody, I have had good luck sitting in the coop playing youtube videos of chicks peeping. It usually takes a week or less to sway one into going broody! It has worked with Speckled Sussex, Australorp and Dorking hens!

 

[lifein1840]

Hi ow do i make my hens go broody to hatch eggs?

I just noticed the date you posted this....try to wait until spring is in full swing. Sitting and hatching eggs in the winter isn't a good idea and the hens aren't usually in the mood - they know best!!

 

[lifein1840]

Wow....I'm so sad to see the comments on this site get so nasty and hateful....we all share the same interests, why not show a little kindness to each other.... this should be a place we can all share and help each other....we all have had our own experiences and if you get to the point where you know everything about chickens, they will teach you something completely new!

 

[lifein1840]

Okay. If you want a broody hen, as has been stated earlier in this thread, I suggest you get yourself a couple of nice Buff Orpingtons. In MY experience, they are the BEST. I started out with 8. I think six of them went broody within a few weeks of beginning to lay. They all hatched chicks. They spent that spring and summer taking care of babies. When fall and winter came, they didn't lay because of short daylight hours. Come spring, they each laid a few eggs and went broody again. At this point I only had four. Year three was a repeat of years one and two. I got tired of constantly trying to break them out of their broodiness and they all went to freezer camp. Bottom line, for me, you can't beat Orps for broodiness. But if you want eggs, try another breed.

Just to prove the point, out of dozens of Orpingtons I have had over - ahem - many years, I have only had one that went broody, but she was very, very broody! I have had the best luck with Dorkings and Speckled Sussexs - some times more luck than I really wanted....

 

[spaceylocust]

Agree with the poster about the seasons. My experience was to leave their eggs in the nest for 3 days. Bingo! Broody hens---yes, plural. Several of the girls went broody. I let only one hatch a clutch because I needed the daily eggs. Two broke broody fairly soon, the other one would cruise by the nesting girl (separated from the others) with a longing look. I'll let her hatch a clutch this year since she really wants to. It appears this girl is broody again right now. So once it warms a bit and everyone stops molting, and I start getting eggs again, I'll let a collection of eggs accumulate for her.

I've never used ceramic eggs but use golf balls. A matter of availability.... I've caught the girls sitting on the golf balls looking quite content....

Good luck!

 

[DrumstickRanchTex]

Hi ow do i make my hens go broody to hatch eggs?

Im not sure about the scientific reasons behind it, but we moved them in the moon. We would have the eggs ready in a pile of straw. And that would be in a small area (we used a rabbit cage). We would go into the hen house after dark on the night of the black moon (the new moon). We usually used bantam hens for this. The hen would be put in the cage and the cage would be in a different shed. We usually had very good luck with this.
Also moving a broody hen in the moon would usually change things and she would give up broodiness and start laying regularly.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Maybe it's just an old wives tale but I have heard that feeding them lot's of corn helps in making them be broody. Could be worth a shot.

Truly an old wives' tale.
No truth in it.

 

[NatJ]

Maybe it's just an old wives tale but I have heard that feeding them lot's of corn helps in making them be broody. Could be worth a shot.

I have wondered whether amount of body fat might affect broodiness. A hen eats less while broody, so a wild hen might try to gain weight before going broody. But I haven't been able to find anything about people studying it, and I don't know how to accurately check amount of fat on a live hen, so it's not something I could try to test for myself. And I know that being fat can have other health problems for chickens.


I suspect a lot of ways to "make" hens go broody are just whatever someone tried right when the hen was about to go broody anyway. Hens often go broody in the spring, but people might get impatient and start trying things--and then when the hen goes broody anyway, the person thinks it was caused by the thing they changed.