To brood or not

[JennyHenny74]

Hi. I'm new to keeping chickens. I acquired 4 "hens", and last week one came out the closet as a rooster. I couldn't keep him in our suburb, so have given him away. Now one of the hens is very broody. Is it worth waiting to see if anything hatches? He was obviously a young rooster, and none of the eggs we've been eating appears fertilized, so I'm rather doubtful.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, JennyHenny, and . Great to have you with us! Likely if he's young and you didn't observe him breeding the hens the eggs aren't fertile. If you did observe mating it's a different story. If decide not to let her set and she still wants to be broody, here's a link that addresses how to deal with that https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/encouraging-or-discouraging-broodiness-in-your-hens
Best wishes and enjoy BYC!

 

[Chicken Girl1]

I would have to agree with your doubting side, did you ever see the rooster "doing his job"? If you do want to hatch with eggs you are sure of then you could by fertilized eggs online. If you decide against it then I would read the article redsoxs gave you. Also you could check out the https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs forum. Good luck!

 

[CuzChickens]

Welcome to Backyard chickens!! I hope you enjoy it and the camaraderie here and everybody that goes nuts over chickens (me being one of them....) Have fun! And ask questions! You have received good links!

 

[QueenMisha]

Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

If he only just started crowing, it's not very likely he fertilized anything.

 

[drumstick diva]

Some folks have even hatched chicks from Trader Joe's fertile eggs. They even have a thread on BYC. That would be a cheap way to go, if you wanted to see your broody raise a family.

 

[JennyHenny74]

Well, I'm still battling with broody hens and thinking of getting some chicks to help them along. Hit if that broke the broodiness, how long until they start again?!?

 

[JennyHenny74]

Apologies, but not hit!

 

[QueenMisha]

Well, I'm still battling with broody hens and thinking of getting some chicks to help them along. Hit if that broke the broodiness, how long until they start again?!?

Depends on the breed. Most of your somewhat broody breeds will not brood more than once or twice in a year, especially if given chicks. Others, such as Silkies or gamefowl, might brood as many as three or four times, or even five or six if they do my hatch any chicks during that year. The latter group is rare, most hens, even of broody breeds, won't likely brood more than three times in a year.