What Does Broody Mean?

[chickie<3]

your gonna think im crazy...but can a chick hatch if there is no rooster ??? i thought u needed a rooster to get chick eggs otherwise you get edible eggs...i'm a city cgirl raising chickens ...OBVIOUSLY

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

chickie<3 :

your gonna think im crazy...but can a chick hatch if there is no rooster ??? i thought u needed a rooster to get chick eggs otherwise you get edible eggs...i'm a city cgirl raising chickens ...OBVIOUSLY

There are no crazy or stupid questions!

A hen does need to be bred to a rooster in order to get fertile eggs. Fertile eggs can be incubated to hatch chicks. However, if the eggs are not fertile, they will not hatch. If you have a hen that goes broody, there a way to discourage her from sitting or you can purchase some fertile eggs for her to hatch.

As a side note, you can still eat fertile eggs. Some folks don't like to (lifestyle, religion, or culture beliefs), but we do with no issues.​

 

[chickie<3]

once they go BROODY is that it..they r broody unless they get a fertilized egg....i'm gonna hope they are BROODY FREE birds!!! there is a lot of chicken stuff going on out there...who knew...but love learning about it..i have 2 pullets and i wanna move to a ranch and get like 20 chickens and some other animals...my husband thinks i lost my mind

 

[gryeyes]

Hens can - and DO - go broody without roosters around. Or even without eggs; some broody hens will sit on an empty nest, or on the golf balls we put there to encourage laying.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

chickie<3 :

once they go BROODY is that it..they r broody unless they get a fertilized egg....i'm gonna hope they are BROODY FREE birds!!! there is a lot of chicken stuff going on out there...who knew...but love learning about it..i have 2 pullets and i wanna move to a ranch and get like 20 chickens and some other animals...my husband thinks i lost my mind

They can go broody without fertilized eggs. It's just a natural instinct that some breeds have - whether they have fertile eggs to sit on or not. Please don't take this the wrong way, but BYC has an "official" book called Raising Chickens for Dummies. I think you can purchase it on Amazon and maybe in the BYC store (if I'm remembering correctly). It has a lot of info about chickens that I think you will be interested in. Also, if you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me via PM or email and I'll do my best to help.​

 

[chickie<3]

thanks so much