Where to get a broody?

[JLE]

Hello everybody,
I am fairly new to raising chickens. Last year my children and I hatched 1 rooster in our home made incubator. We loved him and built him a wonderful coop and run ( probably spent too much) and bought him 4 hens to live with him, since our hatching abilities were apparently not so great. Unfortunately our beloved Peep died last night reason unknown. But we have been reading up on fertilized eggs and have reason to believe that the eggs the hens have been laying may be fertilized and we've been letting them collect. However as we bought Hen's to be laying hens we think they may be one of those breeds where the brooodiness has been bread out of them so our question is....
Where can we find a broody hen to carry on Peeps Legacy?
Around Brantford, Ontario?

 

[SpeckledSussex2005]

I am from north florida, but silkie bantams are super sweet and are almost broody throughout the entirety of their life. You might find a silkie in a local feed and seed store, but it is unlikely. Your best bet is to check at small local hatcheries, craigslist, or (if you want to order a couple more chickens) check online hatcheries. A few online that I like are my pet chicken and cackle hatchery. I hope it all works out for you!

 

[Petra Pancake]

The fertilized eggs will slowly go down in fertility. Both the ones that have been laid already - their fertility will decrease when they are left lying around for 2-3 weeks.
And also the eggs that your hens are laying - hens can store a rooster's sperm in their body for up to 4 weeks but after that they'll go back to laying infertile eggs.
That means you need a broody hen quickly, and one that is broody right now. There are breeds of chickens that are more likely to go broody but they don't do it "on demand". They do it in their own good time and that might be too late to preserve your rooster's legacy. Even if you find and buy a hen that's in broody mood right now, bringing her to your home, a new environment for her, might shake her out of her broody mood.
If you have people nearby who have chickens, ask if anyone has a broody right now and if you can slip a few of your eggs under her without moving her.
I'm not saying it's impossible, but it probably would be safer to use an incubator. Maybe you can borrow one or add your eggs to someone else's?
I wish you good luck in any event.

 

[SpeckledSussex2005]

Slipping the eggs under a neighbor's broody hen seems like a really good idea! Wouldn't have thought of that!

 

[JedJackson]

Look on Craigslist-- in my area, at least, there are people who will incubate your eggs for a fee, either under a hen or in an incubator. Failing that, your best bet is to try incubating again because you don't have time to wait for a new hen to become broody. As said above, the eggs will very likely be too old to hatch by that time. If you do decide to incubate them yourself, make sure the incubator is sterilized before setting up. You can get lots of help with incubation on these forums, too.