What would you do?

[barnwife]

Ok, I have heard the broody stories.. Tons of chickens noone would EVER think would go broody...and then did, and either disappointed them by "forget the mama thing" routine, or was the best mama ever.


Mainly with other breeds....but a barred rock?

How about all FIVE of my barred rocks...all broody at the same exact time!?!?!?!?!


Their eggs would be a cross of possibly a motley crew of roosters, all young except my neighbor's lonely HUGE gold colored something or other (possibly gold minorca)....and my FLUFFY, the BROODY ROO who does most of my chick raising around here.... my fluffy black cochin (bantam).


So, the other possible daddies IF I let any of them set eggs...

GOLDY, the golden cuckoo maran, clean legs.

Red cochin bantam (recently culled, but was with the ladies for awhile)
dark cornish bantam
barred rock (culled and delicious)
a buff orpington roo
grey/blue silkie


Any of these roos could be a prospective daddy. They have all gotten "experience" with the girls.

should I allow this unseemly behavior from a notoriously BAD group of broodies? As in, their breed is not generally known for their mothering instincts....

How do I get them off hteir lazy warm fuzzy backends to break this cycle? I collect eggs several times daily, so they have none. Noone is hiding their eggs or anything...but its been four weeks already!! out of the two whole months they've been laying, half of it they're broody!

Any ideas? What are your thoughts and opinions? I will be posting pics asap for this thread.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Thanks!

 

[Debbienmousey]

Are these 5 hens you're only laying hens? If they aren't then by all means I personally would let them set. If you can afford to spare 5 laying hens for 3 weeks, then what is there to lose? You may gain some new chickens. We don't have barred rocks so I don't know why they would make bad moms. You could always take the chicks after they hatch.

And, for them all going broody at the same time, that's not uncommon. I had 1 R.I.R. mix go broody, then a couple days later a pure R.I.R.. 2 weeks later I had a Columbian Wyandotte mix go broody, and just 2 days ago a black hen went broody. (She's a mix of breeds and I wouldn't know which, we have no purebred black chickens.)

I actually suspect a couple more of my hens will go broody. I hope not too many though, at least not at the same time...

 

[barnwife]

These hens are five of my 11 laying hens...the other three are ee mutts...three very blue eggs, one pastel creamy blue, and two green, one olive ( i love the colors!!)

BUT, being my daughter and I eat approximately a half dozen eggs daily, this leaves none for baking or selling!!!


I do have other pullets still growing out, BUT it will be at least a month before they lay...and I have several groups all two weeks to four weeks apart in age/growth.
ANYHOW, this is half of my egg count, just wasting my feed (the lazy brutes!!)

Ok, maybe not wasting...

and besides...broody hens are NO FUN to watch chasing bugs around the yard!

 

[saddina]

I would have them hatch out the next generation of egg makers.

 

[CAranchgirl]

If you don't want to wait another 3 weeks for them all to hatch eggs, I would pick up some day old chicks and put them under them at night. That way they will be happy and you will get them done brooding and back to egglaying sooner. just a thought...but it is always fun to hatch your own eggs too

 

[barnwife]

Decisions, decisions...

Well, I did a fertility check on my eggs...they are pretty fertile. Only two out of twelve were infertile.


I am not worried about waiting for the eggs to hatch, I am a hatch-a-holic. I am just paranoid about them starting to brood them, then get up and walk off...without me being able to rescue said eggies by swooping them off into one of my incubators in time.


Anyone else have two cents to throw in? I really would like some more input before its final decision time.

Thanks!

 

[okiehen]

When a hen goes broody, she will not lay again for awhile. All hens I have had go broody after setting eggs or not don't return to laying till they molt. So your looking at a down time of no brown eggs from these girls look for them to go through a molt then rest time before you see there eggs again.
I would set a few of them and see how they do. If they quit move the eggs under one of the others.
I wouldn't leave them in the laying coop you'll need to move them .