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 andi-marie,
The sign of a broody hen is a hen sitting on the nest (it may not contain eggs) and returning to the nest when she is booted off. She refuses to get off the nest for any length. This is clear when this happens. If you have a broody hen follow the instructions above.
I have no idea how many eggs your 2 Light Sussex will lay! All hens are different. The max they will lay is an egg a day. If you want chicks your hens’ eggs have to be fertilised by your Silkie cockerels.
I do hope that this helps.
hello i love to read your comments and articles on here they are great. but what i was woundering if you could let me know what are the signs of a broody hen before they sit as ive got 2 light sussex hens and silkie cocks but i dont want to disturb them if they are goin broody and how many eggs do they lay thanks for the help.
Hi James,
Well done finding the right incubator at the right price!
Thanks, i will fence off the whole garden then, but as for an incubator i found one on this site that takes 12 eggs, its only £43!
Hi James,
I don’t think that chickens in the veg patch do an enormous amount of damage as so many people let them free range in their kitchen gardens.
I can’t help on the incubator front. I do know that the best and cheapest incubator is a broody hen and generally she will look after the chicks when they hatch.
Hi Anne,
A cashier at our bank has successfully hatched two boxes of organic UK quails eggs from Waitrose. So it can be done. Chose UK, organic free range eggs and you might be lucky.
Hi FJR Otto,
That is an interesting approach to keeping cockerels quiet! Thanks for the tip.
As to keeping cockerels quiet, my wife’s late Uncle Raymond told us that all you had to do was put a bar of wood above his perch: if he can’t throw his head up (without banging it!) he can’t crow…
thanks, i might anti-broody her and try again in the spring, but if i chose to breed now, could i pop down to tescos and buy some of thier eggs and put them under her, do you think there is any chance of results?
My mother suggested this, because shee read about it working for someone in the newspaper.
Bear in mind they were using an incubator not a hen.
thanks, Anne
Hmm, maybe ill just let them tear up the half the garden without veggies in thank for the help though.
Secondly, does anyone have/know of an incubator i could buy?
I hav looked for hours on the net but anything for more than 3 eggs is like £120 !
Or if not, a cheap site?
James
The site was great with really god instructions and great photography.
But if i were to try and get her to hatch eggs could i pop down to tesco, buy a pack and put them underneath her, would that work?
Thanks for your time,
Anne
Hi James,
Our guinea fowl love their five a day and the chickens have followed suit. I have seen small contraptions to stop the hens nibbling the freshest and tastiest young greens and they seem to work. These are built from chicken mesh and/or willow.
Chickens love snails and small slugs so ultimately they are beneficial but protect your crops until you know what they choose to eat. Also fill them up with a treat of extra corn in the morning before you let them out.
Hi Anne,
It is impossible to tell if your broody hen will make a good mother. It is fairly late in the season. If she rejects the chicks you will need to nurture them indoors. Personally I would put her in an anti broody coup https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289 and wait until she goes broody in the Spring. Then at least you have the weather and lighter evenings on your side.