This might be the first time this question has been asked... UPDATE =D

[rebbetzin]

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Too bad you are so far away... you could give me some eggs you want hatched. I have one very broody Buff Opington hen. She is seven months old. I have to keep making her get off her empty nest and go out to play!!! She is getting thin and her comb and wattles are getting pale!!

I didn't "do" anything to make her that way, none of the three other hens are like that. Just that one. She takes all the eggs and gets them in one place and is determined to hatch them!!

I am mean though, I steal the eggs every day. I don't have a rooster, so they would never hatch, but she doesn't know that I guess.

 

[DANNY]

There is couple of things. Fix her a nice nest and leave her eggs in there and don't bother them. Birds like cochins are very easy to get to go broody. What kind do you have? Another thing you can do is cut off the feed and water for 24 hrs and it may stop the egg production and cause them to go broody. After that ration the feed for a couple days.

 

[1mommahen]

Just drop your hen at my house! Out of 4 cochins 3 have gone broody before 1 year old!

 

[rebecca10782]

Well I have a Turken, Barred Rock, Buckeye, Wellsummer, EE's, and Marans. We had a little bantam Cochin but she dissapeared

She was the sweetest and cuddleiest (I know that is not a word) little thing. I am sure she would have hatched out some babies for us

The only girl I would guess would go broody is the Barred Rock. She is so sweet and affectionate towards us, always the first to jump down and greet us

They all think I am their rooster, so I wonder if she would start nesting if I hopped on the nest and started scrating around.

I see lots of pictures with the roosters in the nest helping out

 

[Heather J]

I understand barred rocks are supposed to go broody occasionally. Mine aren't quite a year old, but I have some mutt hens (one is part BO, I think, One looks RIR, three EEs, and I have no clue what the other one is) and though they have been laying for well over a year, none have ever gone broody. I'm looking forward to my silkies and cochins deciding to sit on their nests!

 

[emvickrey]

I have a goard that is about the size of a turkey egg. in the nest and they now it is fake. I just put it there hoping they would quit laying on the floor. It worked. I plan to plant some so I can give them away to people on here that would be interested.

I was told that Buff are broody. I have one that really gets mad when I take her eggs. She will actually peck at me and If I could understand chicken i'm sure there are many unpleasant words in there also. She will yell for about 10 minutes after i'm gone. I have heard her yelling at other hens. I went to see what all the rukus was and she was standing there yelling at another hen taht was trying to lay an egg. She wanted her to get out of the box i'm sure. When it quieted down I went back and that other hen was gone and she was sitting there.

But, she is the only hen that when she first found the younger hens she went right to them and was nice as if she knew them forever while the others wanted to peck at them and be mean.

 

[Keisha]

Well I have never gotten any of mine to go broody. I've heard that chicks from hatcheries are less prone to go broody becuase it has been bred out of them. But I dont know if thats true or not...

 

[MaggieRae]

Just out of curiousity, does the presence of a rooster affect whether or not a hen will go broody?

 

[rebecca10782]

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Aww...poor thing! I would be mad too if someone stole my babies!

I love it when they get mad, they are so funny. Mine only get mad when we don't bring them a treat. They aren't mean though. Maybe you could trick her by putting a wood egg under her as you take the real ones out

 

[rebecca10782]

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That is a good question.