What age will a young lady go broody?

[jonesgirl]

Ahh so how would you go about making them sit on a fertile egg.. and how can you tell if it is fertile?

 

[CANDLE98]

I think the only way you can tell if it is fertil is to candle them at 7 days and see if you can see anything!

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
You need to wait until the feel the desire to go broody. I personally don't think you can "make" a hen go broody. Some people will disagree with me and say you can by choosing methods that I would never do to any of my hens.

The article that Lollipop posted on this thread is a really good one! I would suggest that you read it. It had a lot of good info. in it and do believe it would answer your questions.

As far as telling how an egg is fertile, here is a fantastic link to help you with that.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[flakey chick]

My young broody is enjoying her babies right now. She is a good mama. She had only been laying 1 month before going broody. I do think the bantams start younger. I grafted chicks onto her rather than having her hatch eggs though.

 

[Hooterville]

Thanks for that article--very informative. I'm just going to let her be. The eggs she's sitting on are almost certainly fertile as I've not cracked on yet missing a bullseye--thanks to four roosters!

I just need to figure out how to keep everyone from bugging her.

She's a cochin and I think they have a tendency to go broody. So we'll see how she does. She's been laying herself for about a month or so.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
I've been PM'ing back and forth with Speckledhen this morning about my broody and she suggested a large dog kennel covered with a blanket or lean to. Just something to keep the other chickens out.

 

[Hooterville]

That's a great idea--I have a doghouse that should work. I hope I don't mess up her broodiness moving her.
I sure hope she does OK--it's going to be funny seeing her raising chicks that are surely large fowl with her being so dinky!