Wyandottes go broody - when ? ? ? ?

[math ace]

I have some wyandottes and I was hoping they would go broody for me and hatch some eggs for me.

At what age can I expect them to go broody for the first time? How often after that?

Thanks for the advice

 

[feathersnuggles]

I have no idea on the "how often" question...

But I have a 10 month old Blue Wyandotte that went broody, approximately 1-1/2 months after she first started laying eggs. She was VERY broody. I broke her broodiness and now she's back to laying eggs, but she still has a large bare skin patch on her chest/belly area where she pulled out all her feathers.

So, mine was 10 months old. I don't know if that's normal or what?

 

[math ace]

Why did she pull out all her feathers? ? ?

 

[feathersnuggles]

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Not all of them. She pulled out all the feathers on her chest & belly. She just has bare red skin there now. The reason - so that she can nestle the eggs right up against her bare skin, keeping them very warm & humid until they hatch. Broodies will pluck out those feathers, you'll find them lining the nest, and the broody will sit pancaked-down on top of the eggs with her chest touching the eggs. Mine had pancaked herself on top of a golf-ball!

 

[math ace]

OMG - - I did not know that.

I don't remember seeing that occurring when my friend was raising chickens. When hers went broody - - - it was horrid trying to get the eggs they were trying to sit on. Others who went broody would become escape artists or really could at the game of hiding the nest because like magic one day the hen would show up with her chicks . . .

I really hope the wyandottes don't pull their feathers out - - - they are such a pretty bird.

 

[feathersnuggles]

You won't necessarily see her bare chest and belly, unless you look under the hen or tilt the hen to one side. I saw the bare patch of skin when I began picking her up off the nest.
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