What is the BEST Broody Hen ? ? ?

[featherfooted]

Silkies and Cochins are both great broodys. I can't seem to keep my Cochins laying as they all want to be broody and I have a Silkie that's on her third batch of eggs this year.

 

[CUDA]

Quote:
Nope, that won't matter. If you have a breed that will go broody, it will, if you have a breed that the broodiness has been bred out though, they won't.

 

[beaker]

Three of my six Hamburgs are (or were recently) broody. The first snuck off in the wilderness and came back with 10 chicks, 9 of which are now independent from mom. The other two are brooding in the same corner of the coop, despite all my best efforts to discourage them. We need eggs not babies! (though it was awfully fun watching Mama Hamburg take care of her brood, even though she spent nearly the entire time in my vegetable garden...)

 

[ckns 4a hobby]

I have had great success with my RIR's. Not only are they great broody hens, but she has maintained being a great "mother" to the peeps which are almost 5 months old now. She raised them with the rest of the flock from day one and has protected them like you would expect any mother to do. Both of my broody girls have easily accepted eggs from the entire flock to sit. My current broody is sitting on 14 (which is when I quit letting her gather any furhter eggs). I cant wait to see all my new peeps - counting the days

 

[Czech's_chicks]

Silkie, second to none!

 

[Illia]

This is a pretty old thread indeed but still, I don't think Silkies can beat Gamefowl. And, my Araucanas are pretty hard to beat too. The main reason people think Silklies are hard to beat is because they're one of the few breeds offered by hatcheries/feedstores (most of where people get their chickens) that haven't had broodiness bred out.

The secret is non-hatchery stock.

You'll see seriously broody hens of many breeds that are equally as consistent as most Silkies.

My Sussex from Greenfire imports for example give me about 6-8 eggs before going broody. Again. I just found one of my hens randomly broody out in the middle of the pasture on 8 eggs, this just before I broke her from broodiness a couple weeks ago. (which I got 6 eggs from her before that) I took her off the next, separated her into a little pen for a week, then let her back out to the pasture again. She was around for about a week or two, then gone again. Probably broody in some random hidden place out there. Again.


Forgot to mention - My Sussex are the biggest chickens I've ever met, so they fit a lot of eggs under all that meat and fluff too, and past the actual incubating, they're darn good moms.

I had a broody hen who I removed from a nest once and introduced her to another hen who was taking care of one chick. . . . The Sussex took over and "stole" the chick. She ended up being a better mommy, - And she's never met a chick nor seen an egg hatch before

The biggest surprise was that the hen she stole the chick from was a Shamo. Takes true guts and bravery to steal from a Shamo hen.

 

[horseyjess]

My Silkies have gone broody but NOTHING like the Turkens or Naked Necks. WoW my girls are fierce about thier brood. Only thing that will stop them is letting them hatch out some babys!!

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
I agree, You will be far fetched to find any breeds that is more broody than a Gamefowl.
On my farm American Games are the first to start hatching chicks (around March or so) and the last to stop hatching chicks (late November) all wile free ranging.
Many of times I have seen hens walking around on the snow with chicks running behind them and the hen wont loose a chick one.
But if you are one that likes to check on a broody hens nest I would advise you to get a very good pair of gloves and a good long sleeve shirt, Game Hens tend to have spurs and know how to use them and there beak like no other fowl I know of when it comes to protecting her eggs and or chicks.

Chris

 

[Painer]

Game birds beat silkies, although if a silkie isn't broody enough for you, you need to buy your own hatchery

 

[Barred Rocker]

Although the breed discription says otherwise, my Black Copper Marans hens wouldn't stop going broody this year. Other than that you can't beat and old english bantam, mine go broody 3 or 4 times a year.