How Do You Make A Chicken Go Broody?
14 January 2010
4 Comments
So, after trying to stop a chicken from going broody several times throughout last year, now I want her to go broody and she won’t!
Late last year we got some new chickens – 4 brahma pullets and a rooster to match. We also acquired 3 unwanted ISA brown layers from a friend. So with the rooster making all the eggs fertile (yes, I’ve actually witnessed that he’s “doing the job”!), we’d now like to raise a batch of chicks. But nobody wants to sit on the eggs.
Isn’t it always the way?
If you have any tips on how to encourage a hen to go broody, please post them below! Thanks!
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No idea – but will be watching for an answer. Good question. I’m imagining it may not be possible? Or stop collecting eggs for a while and maybe a chook will decide to sit on them?
Hi Darren,
Nice to see you back blogging.
Sorry don’t have any tips for you. ITs always the way. I have two broody pekins that your quite welcome to use if u want to…
LIttle buggers have been broody for weeks.. LOL..
Donna
In my (limited) experience, some hens are just more prone to going broody than others. We have a white cochin who went broody last spring and tried to sit on eggs all summer until we finally gave in and let her around Thanksgiving. (And then she killed the ones she hatched because they were from a friend and were black instead of white like her!) In contrast, our golden comets never show the slightest sign of broodiness — you might have gotten unlucky/lucky with un-broody varieties.
That said, I remember reading a letter to the editor in Backyard Poultry Magazine a year or so ago from a young girl who got her hen to go broody by making it an enclosed nestbox that was covered with tarpaper or something to make it dark inside. She shut the hen in for 24 hours, only letting it out for a few minutes a day to eat and drink. Within a few days, the hen was broody.
Thanks all for the replies. I know this hen is prone to going broody (she did so several times last year!), and I was hoping to find a way to encourage her to do so again. I did manage it in the end – stay tuned for an update post shortly!
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