I feel ashamed...

[shellybean40]

i have 3 bantam cochins and since last spring, one or more of them has been broody. I have one mixed breed large mama sitting right now. If she abandons any of her unhatched eggs, I am tucking them under one of my cochins, who will not leave the nest (which is empty) for anything.

 

[spowell]

Too cute!!! I would love to share one of my silkies with you..... I came home yesterday and she was broody with her egg and one she had stolen from a Minorka. This morning I tried to beat her to any new eggs and she had stolen two more. I think she stands there and screams at them to HURRY!!!

 

[Tiss]

So far this year, out of my original 11 hens, I've had a BR and 2 RSL broodies. See, breeds that aren't supposed to go broody can and DO go broody. Keep the faith. How old are your ladies?

 

[chicmom]

OH SHAME ON YOU! FOR SHAME!!!!! NO BROODIES FOR YOU!!!!!!

Um.....till you're not lookin', then they'll go broody!

A watched pot never boils......

 

[aprophet]

ya know this probably won,t come out right or sound right but I have an uncle and aunt who have been keeping chickens since the 50's their kids are mostly doing it all now . but the summers I spent with them when I was a kid they passed on a little bit about broodies part of it is having a breed that is known to go broody part of it is "training" the hens from birth how to be broody they always had a young hen they would put a coupla smaller chicks with and the young hen would kina "Momma" the smaller chicks and most of their hens will go broody several times a year my wife did not grow up with farm animals she asked me why I did what I do and I did not realize I did what they had taught me I just thought everyone did it this way

I hope this makes a little sense

 

[rarely bored]

As I'm reading the OP my mind is thinking... didn't so and so complain about no broodies in 5 years, only to have 3/4ths of her flock go broody within a month of her complaint? Maybe it was two months...

so I will smile, and say, be patient. perhaps for Christmas you will have 18 hens happily knitting stockings for their biddies as they sit on their warm nests.

 

[hennyannie]

I was just complaining in another post about my 1yr old RSL going broody.
Then I moved her to a new run, thought this would throw her off.
A couple days later she started major molting. I think she just doesn"t
want to earn her keep!

 

[JulieNKC]

Get silkies. I have 2 silkies and 1 silkie mix. The mix has gone broody 2x. 1 silkie I let hatch a clutch, so she took off about 6 weeks for maternity leave with her new chicks, but has been sitting on an empty nest for the past 5 weeks. The other silkie has been broody for 8 weeks. They are unbreakable. And the chicks I let her hatch? 3 are half banty cochin pullets... Looks like I'm going to need more nest boxes come spring.

Although by then my roos will be big enough to do their duty, so they'll actually have something to sit on...

 

[kcfuerst]

I have all hatchery chicks (except for some recent Trader Joe babies) and this is the second year that my Delaware and Black Sexlink have both gone broody at the same time. Nothing would deter them, hence the Trader Joe eggs. I won a contest here at BYC for a dozen hatching eggs not too long ago, but I couldn't get the sponsor to keep her end of the deal after she told me I won. So I ended up going to Trader Joe's and see what their fertile eggs would do. When they didn't hatch at day 24, I added a few hatchery pullets under the Black Sexlink mom and she loved them. The Delaware was an unfit mother but was jealous and curious for about two weeks. Then she suddenly decided that she should try and make nice and began calling the Black chick's babies for food. Eventually they listened and now they all have two moms and half the chicks even sleep under the Delaware now. Boy do they get ultra-protected from the rest of the flock.

Here's momma with her lovely halfgrown brood:

Here's the Delaware taking care of babies and molting at the same time. She's a basket case. The babies are now six weeks old and she's still calling them for treats and meals. Very loudly I might add.

Hatchery chicks make good moms; learning to bathe

I vote for Delawares and Black Sexlinks for great moms, even hatchery ones.

 

[h_palmer]

no broodies here for me although mine are young, two Isa Browns and two Lohmann Brown (havent started laying yet)