How Many..? (Broody Hens)

[KikiDeAnime]

When our cockerel/almost Rooster starts breeding the hens everyday, how many broody hens should I expect to see?
I'm going to let only one hen hatch as we need the others to lay the eggs we eat.

Right now our cockerel, Mr Frizz, only jumps on Rusty(His fav hen) and Tiny(Second fav). He should be getting ready to attempt to breed our 2 Red Sex Links that he grew up around.

Mr Frizz, Rusty, & Tiny are going to be 4 months old on August 26th.

 

[Cayuga momma]

It's hard to determine who will get broody and who won't. But if all your girls are frizzles they might all want to go broody at some point.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

It's hard to determine who will get broody and who won't. But if all your girls are frizzles they might all want to go broody at some point.

We have 2 Black & 2 Red Sex Links, 1 Silkie mix, 1 Polish, 3 BLR Wyandottes, and 2 Cochin Bantams. Only Mr Frizz is a Frizzle Cochin Bantam.

 

[Cayuga momma]

Well "statistically" speaking all but your sex links and polish have a great broody tendency. That doesn't mean that the sex links and polish won't go broody and that the others will. I suspect your silkie mix and your wyandottes will be your go to for brooding.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Well "statistically" speaking all but your sex links and polish have a great broody tendency. That doesn't mean that the sex links and polish won't go broody and that the others will. I suspect your silkie mix and your wyandottes will be your go to for brooding.

I totally agree with you about our Silkie mix. She went broody back in march and raised 2 groups of chicks in march and April. I really hope she does go broody again because she's an amazing mother hen. Our Polish has never gone broody and I don't think she ever will. We actually have a broody Wyandotte right now but no chicks for her. Another Wyandotte went broody last week back we broke her out of it.

 

[Cayuga momma]

Silkies are known to be great broodys as well as great mothers. Wyandottes are also known to go broody pretty easily. I don't think you will lack for options with having broody hens and that's a good thing. You can always break a broody, but you can't make a hen go broody.

 

[sawilliams]

You will get as many broody as decided to go broody...

First year 6 chickens no rooster no broody

Second year 12 chickens no rooster 2 broody alternating. Literally I would break 1 and have to put the other in the pen the next day. All summer long

Third year 16 chickens no rooster 1 broody finally suckered up and got fertile eggs.

This year I'm down to 9 hens ants a rooster with some pullets that are just starting to lay. I've had 2 broodies 1 is a 4year old never been broody and the other a 3 year old broody last year.

You just can't predict who, or when a hen will go broody. But if you only want 1 to hatch eggs be prepared to broody break any others.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I agree that anything Cochin or Silkie, or mix thereof, tend to go broody more consistently.

My Wyandottes were not exceptional brooders.

I've never personally had a Red Sexlink go broody, though those on this thread have. They have been genetically selected for production, which means selected against brooding.

I used my Silkie and Cochin girls for my brooding pen allowing my Sex Links to focus on egg production.

You can't decide for a hen when she'll brood. They do that for you. But, you can keep a pen of girls who are prone. That usually means somebody is ready sooner than later.

Glad to hear you only have the one frizzle as breeding frizzle to frizzle is a bad idea.

Also be aware that Mr. Frizz may or may not be, uhem, entirely successful with the bigger girls. Some of the little guys get the job done, while others are hopeful but not effective.

You may need to trim some bum fluff on the Wyandottes to ensure better contact of important parts. (Roosters don't have an appendage...things just have to line up right).

LofMc

 

[112Days]

Silkies are known to be great broodys as well as great mothers. Wyandottes are also known to go broody pretty easily. I don't think you will lack for options with having broody hens and that's a good thing. You can always break a broody, but you can't make a hen go broody.

I agree that anything Cochin or Silkie, or mix thereof, tend to go broody more consistently.

My Wyandottes were not exceptional brooders.

I've never personally had a Red Sexlink go broody, though those on this thread have. They have been genetically selected for production, which means selected against brooding.

I used my Silkie and Cochin girls for my brooding pen allowing my Sex Links to focus on egg production.

You can't decide for a hen when she'll brood. They do that for you. But, you can keep a pen of girls who are prone. That usually means somebody is ready sooner than later.

Glad to hear you only have the one frizzle as breeding frizzle to frizzle is a bad idea.

Also be aware that Mr. Frizz may or may not be, uhem, entirely successful with the bigger girls. Some of the little guys get the job done, while others are hopeful but not effective.

You may need to trim some bum fluff on the Wyandottes to ensure better contact of important parts. (Roosters don't have an appendage...things just have to line up right).

LofMc

Gotta say, my sources all agree that Wyandottes make great mothers IF they go broody, which mine rarely do.

I like banties being broodies since they're less likely to crush standard-size eggs or trample their chicks. Silkies and frizzled cochins are notoriously broody, as Lady said, but if your girls can't be persuaded, local feed stores sometimes have adoption cages with roosters and broody hens (that's where my mama hen's from)!

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Thank you everyone!

We've never actually been able to keep our previous roosters long enough to breed all the hens and that's why I was asking. We live in an area where we'll have to keep him as quiet as we can for as long as we are able to. One of our previous roosters, a Silkie, bred only 1 of our hens before we were forced to get rid of him.