my hen will not brood!

[THEMADCHICKEN13]

Hi I have a rooster and 3 hens my rooster is fertilizing the eggs but my hens will not brood HELP PLEASE!

 

[bantamrooster]

What breeds are the hens?
Some breeds are bred to never go broody.

 

[junebuggena]

You can't force a hen to brood. And having a rooster will not induce broodiness. Brooding is triggered by hormones and changing light levels of the seasons. Some breeds have had brooding bred out of them.
If you want chicks, get an incubator.

 

[bobbi-j]

Just because the eggs are fertilized, it does not mean the hens (do you have hens - females over 1 year of age - or pullets - females under 1 year of age?) will want to hatch them. What breeds are your hens? While some breeds of hen tend to go broody every other week, it seems, others never will. The hens that are bred for higher egg production rarely want to set. Some of the dual purpose type hens are more prone to it.

Where do you live? If you're here in the US, hens don't generally go broody this time of year anyway. Not saying it can't happen - I know it can, but the shortening daylight hours can tend to shut them down. It can also affect egg laying in general in adult hens. First year pullets are more likely to lay through the winter.

 

[THEMADCHICKEN13]

HELP

 

[THEMADCHICKEN13]

They are new hampishire batams

 

[bobbi-j]

HELP

There's really nothing you can do about it. Either they'll set or they won't. As Junebuggena said - if you want chicks, get an incubator. That's the only way you're going to be sure to get chicks when you want them to hatch. See, that's another thing - if a hen is going to go broody, she'll do it on her own schedule. She doesn't really care when you want chicks. It happens when it happens. There is no way to force it.

 

[junebuggena]

If they've just started laying they aren't likely to go broody until they are over a year old.
There is absolutely nothing you can do that will make them sit on eggs. If they ever do go broody, they will happily sit on the eggs and hatch them. Until then, there is nothing you can do. Collect eggs daily and consume them.
When a hen does go broody, be sure to set all of the eggs you want her to hatch at once. Most bantam hens can only cover 3 or 4 eggs, so be careful not to set too many. Mark the eggs you give her, and check daily for any contributions from other hens and remove them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most bantam breeds eventually go broody, but this is the wrong time of year. I would expect someone to go broody next spring into summer when their hormones are increasing.

 

[Mrs. K]

As stated, the chance of you getting a broody hen is poor and next to nil until next spring. However, next spring you could get one. Once the day length is past 12 hours and getting longer, I can sometimes get mine to go broody, with a pile of golf balls.

But nothing is fool proof, and it really depends on the daylight, and the broody gods.

Mrs K