My ISA wants to be broody

[Bsmac]

Thank you!

Here is she is, my best mama Hy-Line, Clover, with her new-hatched Chamomile:

View attachment 4171285



And here she is with her babies Cocoa & Coffee:
View attachment 4171287



You are correct - I think that the genetics are so complex, that it is impossible to make blanket statements about specific behaviours like "this breed does not go broody, that breed is calm, that other breed is flighty" etc.


One of my Light Sussex pullets is currently broody, after laying her first clutch of eggs. She's a little bit older than her two sisters, so I am wondering if they will also go broody soon. I'll just wait and see. It's winter where I am at the moment so I'm not too concerned.

That is a cute photo!

 

[Shadrach]

I Remember you telling me, when my daft Campine went broody the first time, that any hen will go broody if they consider their environment is conducive to raising chicks.

It's what I've found to be true in general. Some are less inclined than others but everywhere I've worked with chickens where the owners have said the hens don't go broody got proven wrong after I had been there a while.

 

[kattabelly]

Two of my Hy-Line hens have gone broody. In fact one of them was broody three times. She hatched one egg (four didn't hatch) and raised the pullet, and also raised two newly-hatched pullets. She's a good mama.

I used to live somewhere with a flock of around 30 Hy-Line Plus and there were pretty much always one or two broody for about half the year. Probably more than we knew about, judging by how often we'd find huge caches of old eggs in abandoned nests. They never got the chance to hatch chicks but at least some of them stayed broody - even with their eggs being collected daily - for long enough that they could've.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

It's what I've found to be true in general. Some are less inclined than others but everywhere I've worked with chickens where the owners have said the hens don't go broody got proven wrong after I had been there a while.

Hmmm...