Lets talk about our current broodies :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dldolan]

Broody? Did someone say Broody? Broody=Cochin at my Finca. ARGH.
Gave up when Alaska did this:

And gave her some BCM eggs, so now have these:

And sister Juneau heard the peeeping, so now have another broody Cochin!

4x in two months between the two of them. I love them, but they are OBSTINANT about the broody thing! and yes, "Alaska" and "Juneau" were thusly names as my daughter took one look at them and said, Tthey look like they are wearing mukluks and belong in Alaska!"

 

[silkiesandbuffs]

Two of my Silkie girls are broody! My partridge Silkie is broody for the first time and she is only a little over 6 months. She had only been laying for about 2 or 3 weeks before she went broody. My other hen is about 10 months and this is her second time to go broody but I didn't let her set the first time since we didn't have room for more chicks. They are both sitting on 4 eggs each. The eggs are silkie and RIR crosses they could have a little BR mixed in too!

I have candeled them and 6 of them appear to be devolping! I am really excited, this is my first time to let my broodies set. The eggs are due to hatch on the 21st.

Please pardon any spelling mistakes as I am posting this from my cell phone!

 

[jossanne]

Here's my girl, Bluebell. Still waiting for post office eggs. They should be here in a couple of hours.

*Edited because for some reason the image showed up sideways the first time! Silly Photobucket.
*Edited again because it still does! I rotated and saved it, it shows up right at Photobucket... sideways here. Oh well, cock your head to view Bluebell.

 

[tinychicky]

i currently have six broodies... and i really don't want or need any! four of the the silkie crosses, a cornish/cochin cross and believe it or not, the ROSECOMB are all broody! all the silkies, of course, are piled into one nest... at the least my rosecomb has a bit more sense! of course, that was most of our layers, so we're getting like between 0 and four eggs a day now.... this is not good. before long i'll be getting more chickens!


oops i forgot one! the d'uccle girl in my avatar is broody also! i'll let her sit one some eggs, but only if SHE lays them.

 

[heksa]

How do I get a chicken to go broody? Do I need to leave eggs in the nest?

I have one rooster with my 7 girls. He is a bantam (Silkie) and the girls are all standard size. He tries to mate with them, but I do not know if he is successful.

Will the chickens know if the eggs are fertile?

3 of my girls, or rather ladies, are 9 months old.
The rest is only 6 months old, but all laying by now.

I would love for them to experience motherhood. ;-)

 

[spartacus_63]

How do I get a chicken to go broody?

The best kept chicken secret ever. If you figure it out, please let me know.

With my girls, I find not having any hatching eggs works well to get them to go broody.

 

[PamB]

I have a broody sitting on 5 eggs that I believe will hatch this weekend!! I'm very excited and will be sure to post pics of her with her babies once they hatch. This is her second time going broody and she is only about 8 months old. This is the first time I let her hatch some eggs!

 

[gitlost80]

My Broodys first baby just arrived!

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
I don't have a clue how to make a chicken go broody. It's a hormonal thing, and my experience has been that you just have to wait til her hormones kick in. I've had chicks from a bantam cochin roo over a standard australorp hen, so it can happen. I don't think, however, that my OEGB roo will have any success with the big girls. He's TOO teeny.

Chickens have no idea if the eggs are fertile. They'll sit on any ol' egg. They'll sit on pecans, action figures, rocks, golf balls... once the hormones kick in, they just want to set. There is a sticky on here somewhere with pictures of fertile vs. nonfertile eggs. If you look at the white dot on the yolk when you crack an egg, a fertile egg will look like a bullseye while a nonfertile will usually just have a small white dot. I'll see if I can find the link for you.

 

[jossanne]

Here's that link. Great pictures here.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=1