will my chickens ever sit on eggs

[miron28]

i have some buff they have been laying for a while now. will they sit on eggs? and how do i get them to sit on eggs?

 

[austinhart123]

well its still winter... they probably will in spring

 

[cactus-hen]

Setting is dependent on hormones. Most hens do not set in winter. Mine being an exception. A hen will lay a certain number of eggs then her body tells her it's time to set. Some breeds do not set well regardless of the number of eggs they lay. It is up to mother nature when or if your hens will set. I have nine hens. Wilma is a small white ?, one barred rock (Barb), one black ?, and six EE's.
Barb sat once in the late spring. She hatched the first two and then left the nest. She wasn't a very good mother. Wilma hatched out four the first time, nine the second time and raised another 16 with the second batch. She is due to hatch out seven more on Friday. She's an awesome mom. Wait til spring and just see what happens.

 

[jossanne]

My sister's buff orps were 7 months old when they went broody in October. They hatched babies during Thanksgiving week. You just never know when they'll go broody... hopefully yours will wait for a little warm weather, tho.

 

[dancingbear]

What breed(s)? Some will brood, some won't. Some do once in a while. Here' a chart that may be helpful.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

 

[ghulst]

Most breeds will get broodie.The best way to induce broodiness is to leave eggs in the neat. 50 years ago I hatched 30 goslings under leghorn hens. We had a hatchery flock at the time and had a steady suplly of broodies.

 

[dancingbear]

Sorry Miron, I saw you said buffs...buff whats? Cochins? Brahmas? Orpingtons? Most mean Orpingtons, when they say "Buffs", but buff is a color variation, several breeds can be found with that color. Orpingtons are available in different colors, too, the most common being buff, white, and black. Some folks are have been developing red, blue, and splash.

Some Orpingtons brood easily, some never do. I've had a couple dozen over the years, only two ever brooded. Other people have had Orps that brooded every spring.

 

[Pinky]

You will probably have some that will go broody in the spring.
Everyone told me my blue andalusian hen wouldn't go broody When I got her.About two months later she did.She sat on 28 eggs,but hatched only one.She didn't care for the chick very good either,but it lived.

 

[miron28]

i have buff Orpingtons i was told that they would never sit on eggs so i had bought a incubator. i just didn't know if they would ever sit n the eggs so i didn't want to take a chance and leave my eggs out there. thank you for the replies

 

[dancingbear]

No point in leaving eggs for them until they go broody. You could get some wooden eggs or golf balls to put in the nest, when it gets closer to spring. Then if one wants to brood, she'll stake out a nest and refuse to leave it, except once a day to eat, drink, and poop. That's when to give her a nest full of eggs. I always mark and date mine with a black sharpie, (no, it won't harm the chick in the egg, I've used these for years) so it'll be easy to tell when new eggs have been added to the nest by the other hens, so you can remove them. Also, if another hen goes broody, you'll know which eggs go in which nest. They can move them and mix them up.