New Member in High Desert of Brewster Co, TX

StellaMar5

Hatching
Jul 11, 2016
2
0
7
Just started taking care of my son's small chicken tractor flock because that was the one thing I could take out of his busy schedule. He has Dominiques - a rooster and 4 or 5 hens; two other breeds, whose names I don't know yet.

Shopping for incubators, I ran into BackYard Chickens, (It may have been on Brinsea site or the Incubator Warehouse), and I began to wonder if a couple of "broody hens" might be better than the incubator. Needless to say, I stayed up very late last night exploring incubators vs. broodies. So many things to learn for a real beginner in the chicken raising business.

StellaMar5
 
welcome-byc.gif
Nice to have you join the flock. That's the same number of chickens we started with ... are you enjoying them? Sorry I can't give any advice, have never had a broody hen or hatched eggs.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

A good broody hen is easier and cheaper than an incubator. However I've found truly good broody hens to be sadly in short supply. Most of mine kill more chicks than they properly raise. My incubator has yet to accidentally crush a chick and kick it out of the nest. My only hen still allowed to brood is my Shamo Misha, as she is the only hen who has consistently been a good mother.
 
welcome-byc.gif


I have done both..I actually just incubated some eggs..had a hen go broody while they were in. I just took some out to her once they hatched. Now, interesting thing..and this has never happened before. I've had really good luck with broody girls. But, for some reason, she would peck on the silkies..she is a smooth SG silkie herself! But, she didn't care for those two, had to bring them in. You need to watch and make sure the mama is doing her job if you are going to put eggs under her. Watch the eggs too..don't want to keep any under her that she may have broken. :) Here are a couple of photos with the babies..they are older now, she's doing wonderful with them.






I had put 7 under her..maybe she thought that was too many.
wink.png
Who knows. I've done 7 under a hen before, she did fine..it was a leghorn mom!
 
Some breeds make better broodies than others. Generally silkies, buff orps, Barred Rocks, Cochin's make excellent broodies. However, there are always some bad examples in every breed. Hatchery birds generally have broodiness bred out of them. They want them to produce eggs not chicks. Broody raised chicks may not be as sociable as incubator babies because mama does all the nurturing. You cannot "make" a hen go broody when it is convenient for you.

You might try both ways and see which works best for you. There is a best broody photo contest going on now, you might want to pop in to see what their owners have to say.
 
Thanks, Folks,

You are building my confidence. Now I need to consider silkies vs. Cochins. Which is the bigger bird?

And I will have to have a separate brooder coop. I saw a very simple one in the Coops section.

StellaMar5
 
Thanks, Folks,

You are building my confidence. Now I need to consider silkies vs. Cochins. Which is the bigger bird?

And I will have to have a separate brooder coop. I saw a very simple one in the Coops section.

StellaMar5

The Large Fowl cochin is huge..the bantam cochin and the silkie are similar in size.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom