What chicken breeds are most likely to go broody?

[varidgerunner]

My only experience with hatching chicks with a broody has been with a Buff Orpington and a Rhode Island White. I hatch out all of my chicks and I do have an incubator. I have let broody's hatch but I mostly incubate in the incubator. I have a Rhode Island White currently that is broody but I'm not going to let her. Of course Silkies. Most of the time in the spring and early summer is when most of mine that want to brood go broody. There are always exceptions. I have noticed over the years that hatchery birds are less likely to be broody but again there are exceptions. Good luck and have fun...

I used to sell around a couple hundred birds a year at the local swaps, point of lay pullets sold to nearby urban areas that couldn't have roosters. I ate all of the unwanted roosters.I had Buff Orpingtons and Black Autralorps through the years, as well as Dorkings, BLRW. They had a tendency to not go broody with any real regularity, not usually early enough to get early spring chicks that come to lay before winter. Some of them quit early, some of them hatch but are poor mothers. Had Silkies long enough to figure out the only thing they were good for was feeding hawks. They could hatch a few, were reliably broody, but you had to use up a brooder space to keep them protected, usually with only a small number of chicks.

With the success rates of the above mentioned breeds, I developed a policy of breaking all broody hens and not wasting any perfectly good eggs under one, and using an incubator for all hatching needs. Then I got into gamefowl. I remember my Grandmother always speaking fondly of her game hens.

When I got Asils, I sold my cabinet incubators, my table top incubators, and my brooders. There is no other breed that will come anywhere close. They not only go broody, predictably and reliably, they take chick raising to a whole new level. They don't tolerate things messing with their babies. An asil hen will take on a hawk without hesitation, if he is dumb enough to get near the ground. I have gone out at night and dispatched possums and skunks, and a small coon that got in a pen with an asil hen, they were cowering in a corner trying to protect their eyes in all cases. I have discovered snakes, rats, and once a small possum dead in the pen. And they can keep doing it for most of their life. Had a friend with a hen that hatched out chicks at 17. They can live 25 years.

 

[Beccazon]

Why would I need to find out what the internet thinks is a broody breed when I have chickens that brood 3+ times a year from the time they are six or eight months old until they are 15 or 20 years old?

You have 20 year old chickens? That are also broody?

 

[goldysgirl]

I've only had one cochin hen and she successfully hatched eggs. She was broody a good bit and a good mother. I have had buff orpingtons, barred rocks, easter eggers, wyandottes and I don't remember any of them being really broody. My Japanese bantam was hatched this spring. She layed about 20 eggs before going broody and is now sitting on 3 developong eggs due to hatch in about 10 days. She appears to be doing a good job. She sits almost all day, getting up briefly to eat/drink/poo and is very protective.

 

[Compost King]

My Japanese bantam was hatched this spring. She layed about 20 eggs before going broody and is now sitting on 3 developong eggs due to hatch in about 10 days. She appears to be doing a good job. She sits almost all day, getting up briefly to eat/drink/poo and is very protective.

My Japanese Bantam went broody before she even laid an egg, and she stayed with her chicks for so long that it ended up being a year before she laid her first egg. Then she went broody after a week of laying eggs. I have only had one Japanese Bantam Hen so I am not sure if she is odd or if they are super broody. She doesn't always go broody at the best times... first time was September so she had bantam chicks during a very cold fall. I stuck a few meat bird eggs under her so they would develop fast and provide extra heat for the bantams she hatched out with them.

 

[varidgerunner]

You have 20 year old chickens? That are also broody?

The guy I got this line of birds from had a 17 year old hen hatch out and raise chicks last year. Think she raised more this spring. The guy he got his from has had them live to be 25. I've only got 8 year olds raising chicks this year, on like their 24th brood.

 

[The Angry Hen]

Though you can say that a breed is friendly, it depends on the individual birds. This is the same as choosing broody breeds. Like humans- they all have their personalities and their way of acting toward an instinct.

My best of luck with broody hens has been all over the place. I had two Australorp hens- one being so motherly and the complete opposite. You can never assume when involved with nature's creatures.

1). Salmon Faverolles
Each of my Salmon Faverolles have been broody more than once... I've never had them hatch, but they are very protective of their nest and are such sweet birds.

2). Blue Cochins
I've only had Blue Cochins, though I know many other Cochin varieties will/may go broody quite often. The Blue Cochins of mine are very motherly... often going broody not long after their first hatch. The only issue I've had is that they are more prone to breaking eggs accidentally when positioning in the nest.

3). Buff Orpingtons
Can be very persistent, independent birds. Will probably make a very good mother. My one hen tried very hard to hatch, but our rooster, at the time, was infertile.

4). Sussex
More eager of birds- will go broody- not extremely motherly.

5). Brahma
More on the tough side... I love this breed, they are my favorite, but mine tend to go stir crazy when separated with chicks too long. Other hens will do this also, but the Brahmas like a little more freedom.

Best of luck and God bless. Hope this was helpful to you.

 

[Folly's place]

Your Asils sound amazing, and at least there's one group of breeders who favor longevity!
I talked to a breeder of Cubalyas last year, and he said his birds did well for a long time too.
Mary

 

[varidgerunner]

The guy I got my asils from raises cubalayas. He's on here sometimes. My Thai games seem to do just as well as my asils, but aren't as cold hardy. They are bigger than my particular strain of asil, and the hens tolerate each other better, so they are the ones I usually let free range, and they populate the woods and yard with little heathens until someone puts their foot down.

 

[janiedoe]

So far, my broodies have all been hatchery chickens.
A langshan, who is broody at least 3 times a year. She is a fierce mother. She hatched only cockrells last spring, but this year she hatched only two cockrells and 4 girls.
She is sitting on one egg now.
Both of my hatchery cuckoo marans hatched chicks this spring and one is already broody again.
One out of 3 of my buff orps hatched chicks this spring. She co-sit with one of the marans. They raised chicks together and did a great job. I have to say that my other two buffs showed a lot of interest in the chicks, following them and even sitting with the moms.
Several of the pullets are biological offsprings so I guess some of them will be broody next spring.
So, in my case, langshan, cuckoo marans, and buff orps.

 

[janiedoe]

100% of my Dorking's go broody but that breed has other issues to where I say get a Cochin or a Silkie. I love my Dorkings but they seem to be cursed with limited genetic diversity making it hard to get their chicks to reach adulthood. I had 1 out of 5 Marans went broody. 1 out of 4 Ayam Cemanis went broody. My one Japanse Bantam goes broody once a year. My Old English Game Bantams constantly go broody but end up luring their brood into death traps. Seramas go broody but its not like they are going to hatch anything but tiny eggs easily. I never got a Buff Orpington to go Broody, I was told they were likely to broody.

Curious. I want a few dorkings next year. What issues do yours have?