Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[Beekissed]

That was my reasoning as well! So, lacing her nest with some steady, big egg layin' hen's eggs while also letting her hatch out some of her own was the best solution I could come up with. She didn't come from wry tailed stock on the hen's side, so the male I'm breeding her to is the source of the problem anyway....best a person can do is cull for the traits you want and hope the bad traits don't pop up too often.

She's just a pullet, so it could be she'll finish out to be a fair sized hen when mature, so I'm not too worried about her size....and that rooster will add some width to the pelvic area that I'm wanting, so only time will tell what will result of letting a cull reproduce.

It's one of those choices a person just has to make....she lays steady but lays small eggs(good thing too because she would have a time getting large eggs past her crooked pelvis), she's smaller than the rest of her nest mates but it's likely she'll increase in size with maturity, and she's got the behavior I so wish to have in my flock....will it be inherited? I don't know.

I guess that's the whole fun in raising livestock...watching what happens season by season and maybe, just maybe, nudging it in the direction one wants to go without messing up something good in doing so.

And then...there's the other hens hiding their eggs out there. Will they sit them or are they just hiding their eggs out of instinct? Time will tell, but this is the first time I've had any do hidden nest sites since raising chickens here, so I'm hoping I've got a strain that want to reproduce in this manner instead of in a breeding/brood pen like I had planned....God's plan for His creatures is always better than anything man can devise, so I'm more than willing to let my plans go and let the Creator take over.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bee, I'm sure you know none of this stuff comes with guarantees, but I think I've noticed that when a hen out of the blue hides a nest she often goes broody later. When I find them laying anywhere other than a nest (and I keep mine in electric netting, I find them) I retrain them to use a nest. I've never left one to lay in a hidden nest. But quite often that hen goes broody later anyway, though it may be a month or so.

When I catch her on her forbidden nest I lock her in a nest I want her to use until she lays that egg. Once usually works but I've had to do it twice a couple of times.

I've also tried letting eggs stack up or adding a golf ball a day to a nest to try to entice one to go broody. I did have a hen go broody once when I was that, but it was in a different nest. I can't say it worked.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! I'll let those with "hidden" nests get a goodly number in them and see if they intend to sit...if not, I'll retrain them to the nests. Of course, I'm going on a trout fishing trip at the end of April, which means the eggs will build up in the coop and I'll get a broody sitting on 30+ eggs in one nest. Never fails...every year.

Never when I TRY to get it to happen, just when they suddenly feel like it. Always. And that's chickens for ya.

When that happens, I'll just move her to that nifty new "breeding" pen I built here recently and let her sit in peace.

 

[PennyJo]

We loved the house we bought on first site, that was like in June having the spring
here has been so much more enjoyable and the warm weather this spring
I only have hens barred rocks and 3 easter eggers barred's are a good sized breed
I had mostly light brahmas sold them bought 14 more barred pullets but
added the 3 for a bit of color. Mom came for about 4 days we tyook her home
yesterday and we are all kinda breathing easy today.

 

[Beekissed]

Betty, the porch broody, is currently hatching her brood....last I got a glimpse, there were 7 out with 9 more to go...some were pipped and some zipped. Sure hope she hatches all of them. Some black chicks in there...nice, big chicks all.

Woods Broody is still sitting her nest and those should come some time this week...she's sitting on 19.

Both have been great broodies, sitting like glue to those nests. I'm surprised I don't have more broodies yet this year...still time, but usually I'm seeing broodies in the coop by now. All those that went broody last year have not gone this year, which surprises me.

 

[baymule]

I had a hen go broody a few years ago and got fertile eggs from a friend. She hatched 5 out of 7 and it was so much fun to watch her raise them. NINETEEN! SIXTEEN! You are blessed to have broody hens! I can't wait for pictures.

 

[Beekissed]

Just checked her progress...she has 10 out and 4 left. Must have eliminated two eggs since I saw her nest last week, she had 16 then. Will definitely try to get pics.

Those poor little kittens keep hearing her purring to her brood and are hanging close to her nest site, which is behind the wood pile on the front porch. They are sleeping there tonight...that must drive her nuts!

 

[Ridgerunner]

No broodies here yet. I tried letting eggs stack up in a nest and waited a couple of weeks. Nothing. But I did hatch 19 in the incubator just over a week ago. I'd rather use a broody but when you don't have one, you manage.

I also hatched some about 8 weeks earlier. I only hatched 8 so I picked up 7 more cockerels at a feed store to make a good brood. I should have enough meat in the freezer to last until these can contribute to supper. This is a few of them.

 

[Beekissed]

Good looking chicks, Ridge!!! I tried letting the eggs mount up several times this year and it didn't tempt a single broody....that was strange, as that usually works pretty reliably. Could be I'll get a couple this month...this seems to be my broody month down through the years.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Two years ago every hen I had went broody at least once. My broody buster got a good workout. I normally only have seven grown hens at a time but often have a few pullets. I was having trouble getting enough eggs to set at one time so many were broody or hadn't gotten back to egg laying after being broody. Then last year I only had three go broody all summer. I don't think you can use consistent and chickens in the same sentence.