What breed makes the best mother?

[Year of the Rooster]

From what I! know, is that the top breeds are: Cochin, Silkie, Orpington, and Old English Games.

But as Sonoran said, every breed and individual is different.

 

[Kev]

There's one more factor- free range. Silkies are horrible mothers if free range. They almost always lose over half of their brood. They really show their uhm, "stupidity" in this regard.. Don't think banty cochins would do well either, especially if hawks are a problem.

OEG is hands down the best.. but even they have a draw back- many are way too protective.. either attacking any person who dares look their way within 10 feet OR shrieking like a banshee if any person dares enter within 20-30 feet of them.. scattering all the babies and teaching them to be terrified of all people.

It is very true that many mixed breeds, does not matter much of what breeds they were of often are excellent mothers.

However, almost any standard sized hen that will go broody will turn out to be decent or good mothers, if the hen is isolated while broody and raising chicks in a coop by themselves with the occasional turning out to free range for the day. I have a big extremely heavy(she has the what people call "deep chest" but to me it just looks like a horrible case of beer belly- sorry folks..), usually clumsy cuckoo Marans hen.. looking at her you would not even be able to imagine her being a good mother to an ostrich baby. But.. she's the most caring, doting, spoiling, careful mother.. every year I give HER my "most precious" peafowl eggs to hatch and raise by herself. She's that good.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well, except for the one homicidal parrtidge silkie hen, all mine have been very good mothers--free range included.

I've never had ANY hen lose a baby, although I have a friend who has "banties" (read that as mix breed very small chickens) who lose their chicks all the time.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:

I have also had good success with my silkies too. I had two set for the first time this spring. They were the most alert mothers I have ever seen. For some reason mine didn't like large sticks/branches and everytime they saw one that I was carrying they would send out an alarm. If the stick came near them they would spread their wings out and puff then get out a can of woop *** on it! Now the poor babies are afraid of them too

Forgot to mention they also screamed like an old house wife who saw a mouse running on the floor

 

[tberggren]

I had a Splash Orpington, 2 Buff Orpingtons and a Orpington mix all go broody just a few months after they started laying. I also had a RIR do the same.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Hmm... My grandmother would have been considered an old house wife and she didn't scream when she saw a mouse...she simply stomped'em...barefooted!

Ed

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Hmm... My grandmother would have been considered an old house wife and she didn't scream when she saw a mouse...she simply stomped'em...barefooted!

Ed

Ok.. then how 'bout a middle aged woman who just looked at her bathroom scale?

(No offense to anyone who is 'middle aged'

)

 

[walkswithdog]

My Australorp refuses motherhood.

My Partridge Rocks -- well, ROCK at it and they're "not" supposed to.

And while you may thing that Broody is the way to go and all non-incubator, the first emergency will have you running out buying one trying to learn how so that the eggs that are suddenly in your care don't die.

Broodies increase your probability of doing it natures way. Nature doesn't care. Broodies make mistakes, kick out eggs, stop brooding and are injured, missing or dead suddenly and there you are... with eggs.

Both are useful, often one to save another. If you have a bator and know how to use it before an emergency it can be seriously useful.

 

[cgmccary]

My Bantam OEG has raised broods four years in a row for me, she hatches whatever I put under her and she mothers them longer than my other hens (she still has not weaned her current clutch & they are 8 weeks old). She is a great mother too. Her chicks are always very savvy. She goes broody 3-4 times a year.

 

[yellowfinns]

I've got two Buff Orps that are doing a top-notch job! Dunno if it's beginner's luck, but I don't have a single complaint. Their clutches hatched at the same time & they've been sharing mothering duties since the beginning.