Welcome 2 my forum! hope u enjoy!

[Sebrite_97]

Thnx 4 da welcoms frm evry one and thnx 4 da info chickenjane!

i actually do hav a rooster but even so my oldest hen has about 12 eggs in 1 nest, and 3 in another. i reely need 2 know how to get 1 of my 2 old hens to go "broody" ive tried lots of things but nothin wrks. hope they go broody soon cuz i dnt wnt to let 15 perfectly good eggs go to waste, specially since ther fertile

 

[Camelot Farms]

You might want to date the eggs each time that you see a new one in the nest. Then when an egg is 10 days old, toss it out or you may end up with some stinky messes in the nest.

You could go out now and use a sharpie to mark the ones that are in there now with a little x and then you'll know which ones come after today.

Unfortunately we cant make hens go broody, they have to do it on their own. If we could, some of us would be in biiiig trouble! lol

Good luck!

 

[chicknjane]

I've read somewhere that Sebrights are not really known for being good setters. You might want to find a breed, like the Australorp who is always broody, to set on and hatch out your sebright eggs.

Good luck.

 

[Sebrite_97]

Now im sad!

My dad said it has been 2 long since my eggs were laid and now i either have 2 start over, or get another type of hen 2 incubate them. I had herd that other types of bantams are great eggy sitters. i wood like some input on if i should get a RIR, Black Australorp, or another breed of bantam. any suggestions wont go unread!

 

[pbjmaker]

My frizzle cochin/silkie crosses are the best setters I have. These are bantam breeds.

 

[dancingbear]

While you're waiting to get a broody hen, why don't you just eat the eggs, instead of wasting them? That's what most of us do. They don't contain chicks, or embryos, until they been incubated. Right now they're still just eggs. They're fine to eat, if you go ahead and collect them, since nobody's broody.

There's not much point in saving eggs to hatch until you have a hen that's broody. Then you could collect your Sebright eggs for a few days, and put them under your broody hen.

When a hen does go broody, she'll stay on the nest, (whether she has any eggs in it or not) and kind of growl when you approach her. She'll only get off the nest for a short break, once or twice a day to eat, drink, and poop. She'll charge around in an agitated manner, with her feathers fluffed out, clucking and growling, the whole time she's off the nest.

Use a sharpie pen and mark all the eggs you're setting under her, so you know for sure which ones they are, in case more are added later by other hens. It's best if you have a separate area to put her where the other hens can't get in her nest, but if you don't, you can just check under her every day and take out any new eggs. Those should be removed. To put eggs under the broody, all you have to do is lift her off the nest, put the eggs in the nest, and let her see them. Then let her go. Where she can stand or perch to get back in the nest, I mean, don't let go and drop her to the floor! She'll be happy to finally have some eggs, and she'll get back on the nest, on the eggs, on her own, and she'll arrange them to her liking, and settle in.

If you do have a special area for your broody, and move her there, put some fake eggs, or ping pong balls, or golf balls in the nest, and make sure she's settled in the new nest before you give her the real eggs. You only need 2 or 3 fakes. You can often find wooden or ceramic eggs at craft stores. You can even use plastic Easter eggs. Some hens will freak out if you move them, but if you leave her in the new area a day or two, with the fake eggs, she may settle back down on the new nest. If not, you can let her out, and see if she returns to the old nest, and settles in again. Some hens can be moved, some can't.

Here's link to a site that may be helpful to you, to help you decide what breed you want to try to get to hatch eggs for you.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
If you look under the breed names, you'll see some more links, abbreviated. "FS", is "Feathersite". They have loads of photos, and additional info on each breed, and links that can help you find breeders, if they're a hard to find breed.

The chart has a column that tells whether a breed is a setter or a non setter. Some say things like "infrequent brooder; excellent mother ", which means she'll probably be a great mom if she ever goes broody, but don't hold your breath! It's not very likely to happen!

RIR's are another breed not likely to brood for you. They sometimes do, but not often. My favorite broody hens are dark Cornish. Many people like Silkies as broodies. Others prefer Cochins, or other breeds. You might check craigslist for mixed breed bantams, to find some inexpensive hens that have a good chance of being good broodies.

Depending on how hard she pecks, (if she pecks) you may want to wear gloves when you pick up your broody.

I hope this is helpful to you, good luck! And

!

 

[dancingbear]

BTW, you can edit the title of your post, so that it says something like "Welcome to my post" or some such, to clear up any confusion!

 

[Camelot Farms]

Silkies and bantam Cochins make great broodies in my experience.

Do you have access to people/sellers with adult hens?

Can you give us an idea of where you live? Maybe someone has something for sale or would trade for some of the chicks that hatch?

Good luck!

 

[ChicknJ]

Hey there Gavin,

I don't live to far from you and I have a verrrry broody Barred Rock hen. She won't give up, so I would be willing to have her hatch them out for you if you and your folks are interested.

We all would love to see pics of your chickens. Glad you found us.

 

[walkswithdog]

There's always an INCUBATOR if you can't get a broody hen to do the job.

The whole area of BYC you are in is a Forum.

The thing you posted on is a THREAD.

It's your thread, not your forum.

Like it's your car, not your parking lot.

So you might want to fix your title a bit, so it doesn't make people laugh.

Since you want to talk about Sebrights and broodiness. Usually something like - my Sebrights won't go broody... what now?

Welcome to BYC

Incubation is a skill and not always successful but an incubator is always there for you.