The most common broody breeds?

[HeatherKellyB]

My Svarthöna has been broody multiple times but not in a constant cycle of being broody like my Silkies.
I wish you the best in finding the information you need

 

[Starry Night Farm]

Silkies have been our most consistent for broody and mothering chicks. We usually keep one just for this purpose. The photo is a four month old who was photographed just last night mothering adopted chicks (to our surprise).

 

[Stephanie8806]

I hear so likes do a phenomenal job. I can’t get them due to our cold climate and off grid coop, but I am certainly sad about it.

I got Cochins last year for this reason. I’ve heard great things about the breed, and they were the only breed that went broody in their first year. I can’t speak to mothering ability yet, as we’re hoping to have them hatch some babies this spring, but I guess that varies anyway.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock will brood every year. Some will raise two batches of chicks, spring then late summer/fall. If not allowed to hatch you can be breaking them from brood three times each year. Persistent and reliable broody bird.

 

[Stephanie8806]

Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock will brood every year. Some will raise two batches of chicks, spring then late summer/fall. If not allowed to hatch you can be breaking them from brood three times each year. Persistent and reliable broody bird.

I haven’t heard of that particular breed until now. Google search left me impressed! I’m adding them to my future list. Quite beautiful birds!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

From my personal experience of having hens who think it is their job to ensure chickens do not go extinct.
My Game hen is the most broody, she hatches off 2 to 3 clutches every year. If you try and break her, she will simply vanish and show back up 3 weeks later chicks in tow.
My Black Copper Marans are almost just as bad, all but 1 of mine have gone broody once. 1 girl has raised 3 clutches and her daughter has raised 2. It may not seem like a lot, but the girl that has raised 3, is my oldest and she does not turn 2 until the 19th of this month.
I've been told Silkies are horribly broody, I'm personally waiting to see if that is in fact true. I have 1 silkie hen I got just over a month ago, her previous owner claimed she had to break her 10 times last year. I also have 1 buff orp, who surprisingly has yet to offer to hatch chicks.

 

[LAYAM]

COCHIN!!!!! ... all 5 of mine would go broody a few times a year though zero mothering instinct ... they would sit on any egg we put under them (Turkey, Chicken or Duck) but once those chicks hatched, those babies were left to fend for themselves

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My pheonixes are Rockstar with brooding. But they're flighty and don't enjoy people touching them

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

EDIT: Please make sure you are reading this whole thing before replying because if you're just reading the title and then just saying breed names, it's quite annoying to me. Plus, I will just ignore you if you do this.

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I've decided to add Silkies this year to use as mother hens for future chicks/ducklings. Aside from Orpingtons, this is a breed I'm more use to as it was one of the breeds my family got started with years ago when I was 10. I'm going to be 25 this year so I've gained a lot of experience with different breeds that we've added throughout the years and I've gained a lot of feedback on here about breeds too.
I do know that a lot of breeds can still go broody but I'd rather stick with the breeds that almost always go broody.
We currently have a bantam hen named Mouse who is half Silkie and half Cochin and she's going to be 5 years old this year but has always gone broody every year. She actually co-raised our 2 current pullets last year during the summer with another hen.

I'm not currently going to add any Orpingtons to our flock as we've only gotten lucky with keeping our current hen alive longer than we usually do.

However, I do want to hear from experienced chicken owners what breed you think I should add for raising future chicks/ducklings.

OMG my chickens are like the stars of broodyness; they are game breeds Kelso, Hatch, Spanish, and boy they don't care who's eggs they are, if they get their hormonal command they will sit and hatch. All the ones we've had had been excelent mothers too; have this one chicken that is so motherly that when her eggs failed, a young chick that still wanted a mother, went into her nest and she adopted and raised him. Haven't had experience with other chickens yet, but these guys are just awesome at laying, hatching and raising chicks (they'll defend them from hawks even).

 

[CSolis]

From my personal experience of having hens who think it is their job to ensure chickens do not go extinct.
My Game hen is the most broody, she hatches off 2 to 3 clutches every year. If you try and break her, she will simply vanish and show back up 3 weeks later chicks in tow.
My Black Copper Marans are almost just as bad, all but 1 of mine have gone broody once. 1 girl has raised 3 clutches and her daughter has raised 2. It may not seem like a lot, but the girl that has raised 3, is my oldest and she does not turn 2 until the 19th of this month.
I've been told Silkies are horribly broody, I'm personally waiting to see if that is in fact true. I have 1 silkie hen I got just over a month ago, her previous owner claimed she had to break her 10 times last year. I also have 1 buff orp, who surprisingly has yet to offer to hatch chicks.

I'm so glad you responded to this thread.. I have a BCM hen that's turning two this year, and have found her consistently in the nesting box. She stopped laying but is sitting eggs the that other hens are laying. I thought it was unusual since the breed description mentioned they were good mamas but not that broody.