How can I make my chicken go broody?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 344 comments
Every now and then I get an email from someone who desperately wants a chicken to go broody. Going broody means that the hen suddenly fancies raising a brood of chicks and will sit on the eggs constantly to incubate them until hatched.
You can’t make a hen go broody. It’s like trying to make X more amusing, or sexy. Either X has the tendency to be amusing or sexy or does not.
If you want to breed chicks you need an incubator or a broody hen. There are strains that have a tendency to go broody. Bantams (a small breed of chicken) are well known to be more prone to broodiness. They can be great mothers. Despite this tendency, we have six bantams and only two have gone broody over the past three years.
I have been told that Silkie bantams go broody at the drop of a hat. Some pals that had a shoot and raised pheasant eggs, used Silkie bantams with great success. But you could buy a flock of Silkies that never go broody. It’s the luck of the draw.
Mrs Boss is the one bantam chicken in our flock that goes broody regularly. Her comb gradually pales from red to pink and she will sit in the nesting box, caring for any eggs that have been laid. She is not bothered about the progeny and will happily sit on anything as long as it’s egg shaped.
It’s important to check your chickens every day and lift a broody hen off the nest. Left sitting, a broody hen may not move. If not shunted out of the nesting box to eat and drink, she will die. The sad fact is that without a cockerel to fertilise her eggs, an undisturbed broody hen will pointlessly sit on a nest of unfertilised eggs indefinitely.
If you have fertilised eggs and want to breed, a broody chicken is a boon. Settle her in a quiet place with her own supply of food and water. She will get up every now and then to stretch her legs but she will care for her eggs.
A bantam will generally be a good mother. Any sitting hen connects with any chick when she hears the first cheep. A hen sitting on eggs will generally accept all fowl that emerge from an egg that is placed under her. This could be a pheasant, guinea fowl, partridge, quail, duck or chicken. We haven’t tried ostrich or peacock (it’s a question of space).
It’s important to provide a safe environment, well away from the rest of the flock. Chickens do not go all gooey eyed when new, trembly legged chicks emerge. There is a pecking order. Need I say more?
Mother and chicks retire earlier than the other chickless hens each evening and so need a separate apartment for the first few weeks. Initially, the mother hen teaches the chicks how to drink, forage and run from danger (under her protective wing) from the word go.
Think laterally and protect your precious chicks from danger. A large stone in the drinking saucer will stop them drowning in the water. You also need to check that bullying is not going on. If this is happening, fence off the separate apartment.
I am very fond of Mrs Boss. Heaven knows why – she is broody on and off all summer. Her broodiness is a problem for us. It affects the rest of our small flock. Broody hens will chase other normal egg-laying hens out of the nesting box. Egg production goes down.
I have learnt that leaving Mrs Boss to her own devices is a downward spiral. She will not give up. She is resolute and single minded unitil I escort her to the prison cell broody coop. Now I clean out the broody coop and pop her in as soon as I spot her comb going pale. I feel a pig but if I catch her early in her broody state, her stay at Her Majesty’s Pleasure is just a matter of days.
She puts in a vociferous High Court appeal every time I pass by the run and her broody coop cell. This is ignored until her comb turns red again. Then the prison doors are thrown open and she rushes out for a dust bath.
If anyone needs a broody hen I would gladly lend Mrs Boss, although I would miss her because it takes three to four months to hatch and nurture a brood until they are old enough to fend for themselves.
My dream is that one day we will be offered fertilised eggs around the time that Mrs B is going broody. There was a fleeting hour or so this spring when someone needed to hatch out some duck eggs.
“Do you have a broody hen?”
“Well, yes. Mrs Boss.”
“I might bring round some duck eggs.”
Danny had a happy day imagining baby ducks swimming in a teeny pond (upturned dustbin lid in the chicken run.) Mrs Boss hovered in the nesting box. Finally we had the call. No duck eggs. Mrs Boss was popped into the broody coop and egg laying by the other hens erupted for the day. Chickens save up and the shells are harder.
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Thank you. I have now also bought a small brown hybrid bird so I actually get some eggs. During the first week after she arrived I found 4 small white / cream eggs which I thought were hers, I have then had no eggs for the last week. Today I have a small brown egg! Do you think the white eggs were actually the pekins?
Emma
Hi Emma
Often when a chicken moves home she will be rattled and take time to settle. Although at 2 years old she is past her egg laying prime she should continue to lay on and off for a few more years. Pekins are occasional layers (ours at 4 years old lay on average a couple of eggs a week each).
If she is not laying she still may go broody for you. One of our pekin hens goes broody at the drop of a hat the other pekin hen has never gone broody. Why not encourage her by putting a false egg in the nesting box.
If she does go broody, make sure that she has access to food and water every day by lifting her off the nest twice a day. When you set the eggs under her, move her to a quiet place with access to food and water from the nest. Still lift her off twice a day so that she can relieve herself.
Hi
I wonder if you can help. I have recently bought a pair of 2 year old buff pekins. So far the hen has not laid an egg (its been 3 weeks) I was hoping to hatch out some chicks this year….will she still go broody if she is no longer laying? I thought I could buy some eggs for her if she did want to sit.
Kind Regards Emma
Hi Lesley
Sorry to take so long in getting back to you.
The Chicken lady recommends five eggs under a broody hen. Mrs Boss is sitting on six duck eggs at the moment.
You need to set the eggs under the chicken at the same time so that they all hatch out together. Hope everything goes well for you and the Peking.
Hi Karen
Good news about the pigeon chicks!
Sometimes hens just don’t get on so separating them was a good thing to do.
Your turkey raising venture sounds great. Good luck!
We don’t have a cockerel but our male guinea fowl is very protective of his wife.
Hope that you get a broody soon.
Another pigeon chick this morning.So tiny!!!
But still waiting for a broody chicken!!
Interesting to hear about the fiesty cockerel.Roger our cockerel gets very upset if I pick up one of his ladies he charges at me with his feathers up.And he is only a little banty!!!!
Karen
Good luck with Peking.Dont know what ideal clutch would be but would be interested for future reference.
Got 2 healthy pigeon chicks.They were cute but as they get older they are turning sooooo ugly,and they are growing so fast.Still got 2 more pigeons sitting should be due anyday.
I had 3 black and 1 white big ‘dont know what breed’! chick hens,which were in with 4 warrens and Roger my cockerel.The warrens werent laying so in desperation I seperated them,and a few days later 3 eggs per day from the 4 warrens.Obviously didnt like the company they were in!!!!
Five turkey chicks doing well but a lot of interest from the little village where I live for free range well looked after birds for xmas so looks like I will be buying more this week.!!!
Good luck every one,what ever youre doing.
Karen
Hi, our peking is broody and now sitting on a ouple of eggs we have been given by another peking owner, so fingers crossed. What is a good number of eggs for her to sit on please?
Hello James
Exciting news about the duck sitting on eggs. Fingers crossed that all will go well!
What breed is your cockerel?
The sheep sound fun too. I bet that there’s a knack to rounding them up.
All our livestock is fine at the moment.
Saltpeter is available for most independent butchers. It’s not an essential ingredient when making salami although a lot of people do seem to use it.
hey guys, one of my ducks is now sitting on a clutch of 10 eggs!
i have got a new cockerel, he is quite fiesty though when you pick up the hens!
My sheep came on tues evening, 4 soay’s, there so cute but really harad to round up and catch lol.
Hope animals r goin weel.
ps, anyone know where to get saltpeter from? i wanna make some salami!
Thanks.
James
Hi Karen
Great hearing about your adventures. Thanks for sharing.