trying to get a hen to set

[littlered]

i have two black cochin hens two red sex link hens and a red sex link rooster. i know that the sex links will never set but i read that the cochins will. i took one of the cochins on and put her in a seprate cage to herself with 8 eggs. its avaraging about 100 degrees around here lately. i know her eggs are fertile because i am incubating a few and can see them growing throw candeling. do you think she will set or should i have left her in the coop with others or maybe even try a diffrent breed?

 

[paddock36]

The only way I have had hens go broody is by letting them keep their own eggs that they have laid and when they get about 9 eggs they usually start sitting. It has worked for my Seramas, Orphingtons, and Silkies.

 

[kathyinmo]

You can not make a hen go broody. It is hormonal. You will know when they become broody, as they will not leave the nest.

 

[joletabey]

And sex links WILL go broody. My BSL just hatched 4 lovely little chicks.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:

Chances are good that your cochins will brood - when they feel like it - food is plentiful and they feel secure, generally their bodies will say "lets raise babies". But not all cochins do and some only once a year or so. I have a bantam who broods and raises a clutch every 3 months, one large fowl who broods/raises every 6 months and one other large fowl who does once a year if she feels like it

.

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

I just tried this with my blue copper Marans hen. She has been laying eggs for several months already and is the only hen in the pen. I lost the others to predators a month or so ago. I have 6 of her eggs in the incubator so figured it wouldn't hurt to leave the eggs in the box to see if it 'promted' her to some action. It worked. She has been seriously sitting for about 2 weeks now on 5 eggs. Crossing my fingers that she can hatch some of them out. I have had some horrible hatch rates lately.

It is hormonal but if there aren't any eggs in the box ro she hasn't been laying for awhile, she may have no insentive to go broody.

 

[kathyinmo]

My experience with broodies has been that they don't even care if there is an egg in the nest! They will sit on air!

Darn hormones make silly chickens do weird things! (like growl ! LOL).

 

[Rachel's Hobby Hatchery]

yea, just let her in her pen with the others, let the eggs that you want to hatch in a nest that she lays in & let them pile up... eventually she or the other hen(s) will decide to set on the eggs, then only AFTER the hen has decided to set on the eggs for a full couple days let her watch you collect the eggs, pick her up gently, let her see that you are puting her eggs in a cage then set her gently on top of the eggs and leave her alone... thats what I always do anyway... I make sure to put feed & water in dishes in the cage BEFORE puting the eggs or the hen in so I dont stress her more. she usually will decide to continue setting. but if she dosnt than put her back & try again next time.