I want a Broody Breed hen

[Chikenux]

Hi all,
Would like to know of a breed that can sit on their eggs and hatch them. A breed that is good for eggs if lucky also meat
Thanks.

 

[Silkie Princess]

Orpingtons are good broodies and they lay 200-280 light brown medium-sized eggs each year but I personally prefer silkies as broody hens. ( silkies are not good laying hens. My hens lay once a month)

 

[NatJ]

The best egg layers do not go broody.

A broody hen does not lay eggs while she is hatching eggs and raising chicks.

You might want to have more than one breed: one that is good for laying eggs, and a few hens of another breed that is good at hatching eggs.

A broody hen does not care if she sits on eggs she laid, or eggs laid by another hen.

Most kinds of bantams are good broodies, so you could keep a few bantam hens to hatch the eggs from your other hens. Because the bantam eggs are smaller, it would be easy to tell which hen laid which eggs. And the small hen can do just fine with large eggs.

I've had a few Old English Game bantams that would lay 12-20 eggs, go broody, raise chicks, lay another 12-20 eggs, go broody again... So they spent more time broody than laying, but were convenient for raising one batch of chicks after another all summer long. Many people like Silkies for broodies, but I prefer normal feathers, clean legs, and no extra feathers on the head or face. So the Old English Game Bantams were a good choice for me.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Check out standard pheonixes. Mine go broody all the time but when theyre not nesting or raising, they lay nearly every day. Small though, about the size if not smaller than leghorns

 

[katelwil]

You could always get a broody just for hatching eggs and have another bigger breed for meat. (The silkie would hatch the bigger breeds eggs)

Silkies wouldn't be good for meat but are great broodies. At this point I'm having an issue keeping mine from going broody!

 

[HappyClucker7]

Orpingtons and Australorps might be good for you.

 

[joydix]

You could always get a broody just for hatching eggs and have another bigger breed for meat. (The silkie would hatch the bigger breeds eggs)

Silkies wouldn't be good for meat but are great broodies. At this point I'm having an issue keeping mine from going broody!

Oh man me too! 5 out of 26. 3 older girls not laying. My silkie goes broody constantly all year long. Yes even in winter. She stays at nest sometimes 8-10 weeks. Stops for a week or two then back at it. I let her hatch once but as soon as they hatched she left them, gathered her rocks which she preferred over the eggs anyway and back being broody. I had to farm out the chicks rather quickly to other waiting moms. But that is not normal for a silkie. My first silkie was the very best. She is retired now tho.

 

[katelwil]

Oh man me too! 5 out of 26. 3 older girls not laying. My silkie goes broody constantly all year long. Yes even in winter. She stays at nest sometimes 8-10 weeks. Stops for a week or two then back at it. I let her hatch once but as soon as they hatched she left them, gathered her rocks which she preferred over the eggs anyway and back being broody. I had to farm out the chicks rather quickly to other waiting moms. But that is not normal for a silkie. My first silkie was the very best. She is retired now tho.

I am just now getting to fully experience a true broody silkie! My first silkie I believe was a mixed breed and she was broody but nowhere near as broody as the one I have now! I incubated 4 of her eggs and let her raise the chicks once hatched, I thought I had gotten her over it, but here I am 4 months later (she just started laying again a few weeks ago) and she is already going broody!

It's absolutely crazy I just can't let her do that in the summer, I'm not 100% sure but I think I lost a previous hen from heat stroke because she'd gone broody in the summer and wouldn't leave the nest for anything.

They are relentless

 

[joydix]

I know! I have a little wire pen and I have broken the less devoted but silkies? No way. I can’t keep her in that for more than a few days, I feel mean! I go back and forth….let them do their thing then flip to BUT SHE CANT BE BROODY FOR 3 MOMTHS!, WELL I got for pets so I have to let go. My rock sitting silkie gets nasty lice thing if she sits too long. I have to dust her weekly. Frustrating

 

[Percheron chick]

Cochin have been my go to broodies. Get a few just to sit on eggs and have egg or meat birds who's eggs they can hatch. They can handle a large clutch of eggs 10-12. They don't care what they hatch.