Hello My New Hampshire Red hen just laid her first clutch of eggs and I am very happy that she finally started laying(put the eggs in the freezer). I checked one egg and found out that it is fertilized(the blastroderm, I believe?) (she is also being mated by my grandma's rooster) and I'm thinking of hatching them to chicks, but we don't have an incubator so a broody hen would be nice. How can I make a hen broody? I heard that putting eggs in the nest box will encourage broodiness, but not quite sure... Thanks in advance!
It's all hormonal, so really... there's no way to make one broody. Presence of eggs may encourage it, but it may also accidentally encourage egg eating if one gets broken.
Thank you! I see...... I think a local hatchery has a hatching service, I might check it out. Also my grandma's free-range hen is broody, but I think she has her eggs in our neighbor's yard.....
For very broody breeds, like games and buff orps, putting eggs in will work, but I"m not sure about New hamp. reds. I am wondering if they still go broody, or if it's been bred out like it has with RIR. You might want to ask over at the Breeds in General board. I raise red sex links, but have never raised the NHR, so I'm not sure.
I was trying to MAKE a hen go broody, I trapped one at a time in a nursery area with eggs, and not one of them went for it. But then I found one (black australorp) out of coop sitting on eggs. So we will see what happens. Good luck to you and me! I want lil babies so bad!