Trying to make a chicken broody! Help!

[McChooky]

Hey again guys! I'm looking to hatch out some more blue Cochin chicks. I'm trying to encourage one of my blue Cochins to go broody and hatch out some babies for me! She has already gone broody once so she knows what she's doing. And also, it's summer time here in Florida, so I know it's about the time she should be going broody. How should I encourage her to go broody? I have five eggs in the nesting boxes at the moment to try and have her go broody but it's not working very well. Thank you guys!

After hearing stories from people who've lost their whole flock to predators I made a incubator for emergencies. This one will come in handy one day when I need more chicks!My cats love to lay on it!

 

[Krosfyre9838]

After hearing stories from people who've lost their whole flock to predators I made a incubator for emergencies. This one will come in handy one day when I need more chicks!My cats love to lay on it!

I bet they love laying on it, mine are not allowed on top but they love laying beside them.

 

[Krosfyre9838]

My hen is staying on the eggs, she is even biting me when I tried to check how many new eggs and to mark the new ones. She is an Easter Egger, they may be geared to go Broody. But it seems I was able to make one of my girls go broody by locking her in with 5 eggs and 1 of her own. I actually didn't start with her, I tried this with another of my girls and she was not having it, she didn't sit on the nest and she would only roost and she didn't like being locked in the nest house. Then I switched hens and this second girl the first night did not stay on the eggs and she chose to roost, the second day after laying her egg she chose to stay on the nest, and this third day I noticed she got up for a few minutes to move around and eat and drink then moved back to the eggs. I think isolating her from the other girls helped me get the results I am.

 

[Krosfyre9838]

A farmer told me with his vague instructions to lock a hen up with several eggs for several days to make her go broody.

Well I can tell you it doesn't work with every hen or just any hen. I suspect it depends in her temperament and personality. The first hen I locked in went into terror mode when I put her in there, Even after she calmed down she was not interested in the the eggs

 

[Evadig]

A farmer told me with his vague instructions to lock a hen up with several eggs for several days to make her go broody.

Well I can tell you it doesn't work with every hen or just any hen. I suspect it depends in her temperament and personality. The first hen I locked in went into terror mode when I put her in there, Even after she calmed down she was not interested in the the eggs

You really can't make a hen go broody. You can encourage her by putting eggs (fake or real) in the nest, but whether she goes broody or not depends on nature and her genes.

 

[McChooky]

I bet they love laying on it, mine are not allowed on top but they love laying beside them.

Still testing various incandescent light bulbs and driving the cats crazy! They're so curious!

 

[16 and me]

My hen is staying on the eggs, she is even biting me when I tried to check how many new eggs and to mark the new ones. She is an Easter Egger, they may be geared to go Broody. But it seems I was able to make one of my girls go broody by locking her in with 5 eggs and 1 of her own. I actually didn't start with her, I tried this with another of my girls and she was not having it, she didn't sit on the nest and she would only roost and she didn't like being locked in the nest house. Then I switched hens and this second girl the first night did not stay on the eggs and she chose to roost, the second day after laying her egg she chose to stay on the nest, and this third day I noticed she got up for a few minutes to move around and eat and drink then moved back to the eggs. I think isolating her from the other girls helped me get the results I am.

Keep in mind also, a broody has to go 3 weeks with barely any food so they store up some fat to carry them through those 3 weeks. If her body is not prepared, she may give up part way through the brooding period.

 

[Red Horse]

I just made sure that the most popular nest box in the coop stayed nice and clean, and kept maybe 6 ceramic eggs in it while collecting the real ones each day. It took a little over a week for a volunteer to decide that clutch of eggs needed sitting on. If a potential broody does exist, make conditions just right for her to do her thing and she will do it.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Broodiness is driven by hormones, you can't control it. If you lock up a hen on a nest and she goes broody, it's because she was ready to go broody anyway, not because you locked her up. That's why it "worked" with one hen and not with another. That hen would have gone broody on her own, whether you locked her up or not.

 

[Rock17]

get a silkie. Demeter my paint silkie has been broody for 51 days now.