i want a broody hen!!!

[cartersmith]

i really want one of my hens to go broody i have quiet a few fertile eggs and my incubator is getting pretty full

anything i can do to encourage one to go broody?

 

[Illia]

Replace her with a non-hatchery version of her breed, or replace her with a more likely broody breed?

That's all you can do. . . If you've got hatchery related stuff, chances are you'll get less than a 50% chance of having a broody unless she's a Cochin, Orpington, or Silkie.

 

[cartersmith]

Quote:
what do you mean by non hatchery version?

i have light sussex and rangers at the moment

 

[paddock36]

Whenever I wanted my little Serama hen to go broody I just stopped collecting her eggs and when she accumulated 9-12 eggs it never failed she was broody. Maybe you could separate a hen and replace her eggs with fake ones for a while and see if that will work.

 

[cartersmith]

i have put some fake eggs in but no seperated them yet. i will try this thanks

 

[paddock36]

The reason I mentioned to separate her is because your other hens will probably try to lay in the same box with her eggs and or she might switch to other nest boxes if there are eggs in them too. This is not a guarantee that she will go broody but it has worked for me everytime.

 

[farmerChef]

Becareful what you wish for, ALL your hens might go broody, its happened before, esp with silkies. I'm up to 2, 1 last week, 1 yesterday, but I'm trying to break the second one, I only have 5 hens right now.

 

[zaybird77]

When she said non incubated she meant a chicken that was hatched by a hen(they are way more likely to go broody).

 

[terrilhb]

I want one too. But I have RIR's. So the chances are slim to none.

But I have chicks that are Minorca(their Daddy) and RIR(mommy) so hopefully one of these will be broody.

 

[Omani]

Hey, you never know. We have gold comets, leghorn and partridge rock that are going on 2 years old. None are even close to broody. So we hatched some of their eggs last year. One of those girls is broody. Has been for three or four months, on and off. Not even a year old yet! I decided to mark two of her eggs with a crayon because all the girls share a nest, just to see what would happen. I thought that none of them would be fertile and she would lose interest after three weeks or so.
Well, one hatched Wednesday, when it got down to -2*.

It disappeared the next day. I found "parts". But the other egg is still there, and very light compared to the ones the other girls lay. I'm watching this one like a hawk. I've got the brooder set up, just in case.

Remember "careful what you wish for"? I got it big time.