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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Hi i have had chickens for a few months now, and one of them is going broody, does anyone know if i put other species eggs under her will she mother them?
thank anne
Thanks, i will try to free range them in the garden, but do you know if chickens and veggie gardens mix?
james
Hi James,
Try and give them as much space as possible especially if they are not out foraging in the day. I don’t know the official requirements of space per hen. Our run is 30’x6′ for the equivalent of four large hens.
I am getting chickens in the near future, something i have been waiting for for years!
I have bought a shelter with space for 4-6hens. i was thinking about ISA warrens or bovan goldlines or both, about 4 in total, any ideas on how much space i will need for a run?
Hi Rach,
The chicken will reject any eggs that are not viable eventually. So I would leave her for a few days past the hatching date. But when you boot her off the nest in the morning and evening, make sure the eggs are clean (wipe them with a damp cloth if the have been fouled).
Re the diarrhea, I am afraid I don’t have the answer. Make sure that she has a clean supply of fresh water in reach of the nest so she that she doesn’t dehydrate and keep an eye on her.
hi,
we have got a broody chicken she is sat on duck eggs one of the eggs have hatched and doing fine we got four more underneath her which are due today . are mummy of the duck seems happy the problem is we dont know how long to keep her sitting on them also she has diorhea which we dont know why can any one help
thanks
rach
Hi Sally,
I am so pleased that you enjoyed the chicken articles. I hope that Hyacinth and Ophelia give you a smooth run in the hatching stakes.
I don’t have any advice about keeping a cockerel quiet. I’d love one here but worry about the neighbours. The chickens can make a dreadful racket at times. And now we have the Guinea Fowl keets who will get vociferous when they grow up…
Hello
I have just had a lovely time reading your chicken articles…..
We have 13 girls of various breeds and are about to try hatching some eggs (from Ebay) for the first time. Both our Orpingtons, blue (Hyacinth) and black (Ophelia) go broody very easily so I’m hoping the sitting part will go smoothly. However, I was wondering if you have any advice for keeping cockerels quiet (ish) ? If we successfully hatch some I would love to keep a cockerel to keep our girls in line (we have a few Marans who are very cheeky, our French Wheaton Maran, Cindy escaped this morning by jumping/flying up into a tree then over the 6ft fence into next doors farm !!). I am just a bit worried about our neighbours views of a shouting cockerel at 5am ! Maybe we’ll just have to move to somewhere bigger……..(yes I am that chicken mad !).
Thanks
Sally
Hi David,
Poor you. What an upsetting experience.
I would look at Buff Orpington Breeder’s websites. These give the prices for fertile eggs, chicks and point of lay hens (unless they were show birds they loose most of their monetary value after 2 years as laying will diminish from then on).
Although money can never compensate you for hens that have become part of the family. Buff Orpingtons are fabulous hens and great pets.
I am trying to find the fair market value for a free range red buff orpington hen. A neighbor’s friend had a dog who played a little rough with 3 of my hens and killed them and though I am upset he has offered to compensate me with money. I’d rather shoot him and sell his dog to someone intelligent but I can’t do that and live free. So I am trying to find a fair dollar amount-any good ideas? Thank you.