What's a good breed to raise chicks?

[millerjen]

So my March chicks were suppose to be all hens. It looks like I have two roosters in that flock. I was thinking of maybe having one of my best hens raise her own chicks in a separate coop. I have barred plymoths, ameracauna, wyandotte, golden comets leghorns and brahmas. Which of these would make good chick raisers?

 

[Crestcrazy2]

It might depend on that chickens personality ! I think Brahmas are nown to be good incubators ( think).

 

[Ruthster55]

Have any of them gone broody?

 

[Willow2253]

It’s going to depend who goes broody. They can all do a fine job, but you can’t make any of them sit on eggs if they don’t want to.

 

[Crestcrazy2]

It’s going to depend who goes broody. They can all do a fine job, but you can’t make any of them sit on eggs if they don’t want to.

Well said !

 

[millerjen]

Have any of them gone broody?

They are only abouy 16 weeks old now. No eggs yet. But I have identified two roosters with their throaty 13 year old boy crow. : )

 

[Ruthster55]

They are only abouy 16 weeks old now. No eggs yet. But I have identified two roosters with their throaty 13 year old boy crow. : )

They need to start laying first. What you can do to encourage them to go broody is:

1. Make sure their coop and run are very secure from predators and that dogs and cats cannot enter.
2. Collect the first few eggs which will probably be very small.
3. Depending on your family's need for eggs, if you have enough already, get lazy about collecting the eggs. Don't watch too closely for a week or so.
4. If you see something like this, check a few hours later to make sure she is still there and wasn't just laying an egg. If she's still there, especially at night, you've got a broody! Mark your calendar for 21 days, but allow at least 25 days, because the hatch can be slow in cooler weather.
5. If all else fails, you can buy either or both of two things: a game hen and/or an incubator. Game hens are excellent mothers and go broody at the drop of a hat. An incubator is good to have, even if you have broodies in case one of them gives up on her eggs.

 

[millerjen]

They need to start laying first. What you can do to encourage them to go broody is:

1. Make sure their coop and run are very secure from predators and that dogs and cats cannot enter.
2. Collect the first few eggs which will probably be very small.
3. Depending on your family's need for eggs, if you have enough already, get lazy about collecting the eggs. Don't watch too closely for a week or so.
4. If you see something like this, check a few hours later to make sure she is still there and wasn't just laying an egg. If she's still there, especially at night, you've got a broody! Mark your calendar for 21 days, but allow at least 25 days, because the hatch can be slow in cooler weather.
5. If all else fails, you can buy either or both of two things: a game hen and/or an incubator. Game hens are excellent mothers and go broody at the drop of a hat. An incubator is good to have, even if you have broodies in case one of them gives up on her eggs.

Thanks for your advice. I'll keep an eye on them. Right now we're getting very few eggs from our "mature" hens so it'd be nice to be flush in eggs for a while. This winter I'll get serious about raising chicks.