I don't get it!!!!!

[MyPetsMakeMeBreakfast]

So when they say a chicken won't go broody does it mean the wont hatch any of the fertile eggs they lay of they just won't sit for eggs that other hens lay???

 

[dianaross77]

It means they won't sit on eggs to hatch them at all. Not theirs or anyone else's.

 

[kinsey228]

It means she won't sit on any eggs. Some breeds are like that. Most chickens will sit on each other's eggs, though

 

[Wildflower_VA]

Hatchery chickens have had broodiness bred out of them in favor of non-stop egg production to a great extent. Sometimes a hen might still go broody, but quit before she hatches any eggs or sometimes they stay on the nest long enough to hatch out chicks, but end up being a bad mother that rejects or kills her chicks.

I want to start getting chicks nature's way next year, so I researched and purchased two heritage breeds noted for still going broody and being good mothers. I don't want to keep bantams, but if my large fowl heritage hens won't go broody, then I will get a couple of Silkies to serve as surrogate mothers.

 

[MyPetsMakeMeBreakfast]

Quote:
does a silkie have to go broody or do you just have to put a egg under her for her to hatch it????

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

We are keeping Cochins to sit on some of the eggs we hatch next year. Call them my little bowling balls on legs.

 

[Wildflower_VA]

Quote:
does a silkie have to go broody or do you just have to put a egg under her for her to hatch it????

All chickens have to "go broody" to sit on and hatch fertile eggs, even a Silkie. It's just that Silkies are the "broodiest" of all the breeds and wonderful mothers. They can stay broody for months, sometimes, sitting on non-fertile eggs and sometimes fake eggs or an empty nest. It's a hormonal change for the broody hen. A broody hen goes into a trance-like state, stops laying eggs and only leaves the nest once a day to eat, drink and poop. In the trance state, they don't use much energy or many calories, so they can go without food and water for long periods. This is natures way of keeping the broody on the nest around the clock for at least 21 days until the eggs start to hatch.

 

[Lil'ChickFarm]

Hmmm is there a way to stop them from being broody?

 

[Wildflower_VA]

Lil'ChickFarm :

Hmmm is there a way to stop them from being broody?

There are many posts on here about how to "break" a broody--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The hormonal shift raises the temperature of the broody hen to the high temp needed to incubate eggs, so in order to "break" them involves dunking in cold water, putting ice under them or putting them in a crate with no nest material with air flow below to reduce her temperature in the under-parts, which sometimes brings her out of the broody state. Some serial broodies will nearly starve themselves to death by sitting on a nest for months at a time, even without eggs to sit on.​

 

[DEchick]

I have a free range hen who is not broody, wont sit on the nest to save her life! BUT she also hides her nest and if I find it she abandons it and makes a new one! She is driving me nuts!