How do you encourage a hen to go clucky?

[Nats Chickens]

Cool, thank you for your advice!

 

[Nats Chickens]

Here is a picture of Belle, the broody in question.

 

[RWise]

Can you encourage a hen to go broody? Yes, but encourage is all.

Here is what I do, it can work but it does not have to, you cant force them. I do all mine in private quarters (bachelor pads), to do this I put a nest box in the pen (in plain full sight of all the flock), and put a golf ball in it. The girls will inspect as does the rooster, and may start using it. If/when they start using it, I take the eggs and replace with 1 golf ball, or maybe 2 if several girls use it. When the balls add up, and the girls do count them, one just may set on them. When this happens, at night I take the golf balls and replace them with the eggs I want hatched. Once the chicks are hatched and moma is ready to bring them out, I open the door so she can come and go as she pleases. At about 4-5 weeks she will take them to the roost. She may also move to a nest in the coop for nights at some point, it is her choice.

Does it work every time,, no
And there is nothing wrong with winter hatches, yes it feels wrong to see 3 day old chicks out in the snow, but moma is right there and they can warm them up anytime they want.

Good luck!

 

[50-45-1]

They will chose a dark, safe, quiet place, it would be best to separate her from the general population when she is setting on her eggs. Cmom's broody box above look ideal. Black Astralorp's make great mothers. She will come out of the box once a day to eat drink and deficate. A big hen like her could have as many as i would say 10 eggs set under her. Good Luck!

 

[chickens really]

All I do is wait till my Hen goes Broody and commits to being Broody for a few days. I then set up a safe Broody box in my garage or in the Coop. I build the nest and add in the eggs. I confine her to that space till she settles on the eggs. My Hen has been hatching in a crate inside my Coop the last two days.

 

[sumi]

I have encouraged broodiness both accidentally and on purpose by leaving eggs in the nest boxes for the hens to sit on. If a hen is prone to broodiness, a nest full of eggs will be tempting and in some cases effective.

 

[Nats Chickens]

Thanks guys!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hens start setting in their own good time. There is nothing that will make a hen sit other than keeping her alive and healthy.

One other thing. Sitting behavior is the culmination of laying a sufficient number of eggs to create a cache of eggs that will make sitting a worthwhile endeavor for the flock, and not necessarily for each individual hen.