will banties brood standard eggs?

[GoodEgg]

Hey all,

I have what is probably a really dumb question.

I'm curious, because I think most of my standards are breeds that don't set well. I have some bantams that might be hens, I think the silver pencilled rock and the rosecomb. If they become broody, can they incubate eggs from standards? If so, will they only be able to brood a couple, since they are so small?

I was just curious. Mine are a ways from laying, but it would be nice if we could raise some babies someday. I just don't think I need more bantams. Though I may end up with only banty roos, so any chicks may be banty x standard crosses.

Guess I'm just wondering, at this point?

Thanks!
trish

 

[Rooster01]

Yes, They will brood on standard sized eggs. They can't set on as many but they will try.

 

[Chellester]

I know Silkies will attempt to brood anything that vaguely resembles an egg, such as rocks, doorknobs, etc., so they will brood standard size eggs with no problems.

Using bantams to brood eggs from other types of chickens that are not so broody is a common practice.

 

[jimnjay]

It is an accepted theroy that the Silkies has survived all these many hundreds of years because of the willingness to brood any eggs made available to them. In days when there were no incubators, Silkies were used to hatch eggs for many breeds that were not good setters. I would imagine that many other breeds have survived due to their willingness to hatch the chicks.

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

In a pinch I had to give one of my broodys a few duck eggs I took them away as soon as they hatched. And I gave one Silkie hen a peacock egg.
She hatched it fine but because the chick was so big so fast she did not want to keep it warm after a week.
she thought it was a big kid now.. It was crying a lot and shivering so I had to take it away.

I am also trying to make a BYC Member Page for everyone to look at. Check out what I have so far.

 

[GoodEgg]

Thanks, everyone for the replies.

Now I wish I'd gotten silkies instead of what I DID get. (My banty probable-hens are rosecomb and silver pencilled rocks ... still not sure about the one that might be a seabright.) Who knows, they might prove useful someday. I hope so because they are going to be too small to eat, lay eggs that are too small, and I doubt I'll be able to do anything else with them besides feed them and let them run around because DD will end up too attached to them.

I'm pretty pleased with my banty roos though, and that was the reason I ordered banties in the first place. Since they had to be straight run, I just figured I'd end up with some extra hens. Kinda reverse from how we usually think.

Thanks so much for the replies. I can hope they might go broody sometime, and next year I'll get a few silkies anyway.

trish