Need help on letting hens go broody and hatching their own eggs. Any of you guys do that?

[user 7704]

I've never had roosters so I have some questions if anyone is interested.

 

[Mountain trapper]

When I was a kid we had a lot of banty chickens. A banty hen will try to hatch a light bulb if you let her. Many times I'd have a banty hen hatch out duck, quail and pheasant eggs, as well as chicken eggs. Bantys make great mother hens too. It was pretty humourous to watch a banty hen trying to keep a brood of baby ducks or quail in line.
Many of the more productive laying hens aren't very broody, so a couple banty hens could be a good option.

 

[tmttactical]

@Arcticdude Please correct me if I am wrong. Banty is a type (breed) of chicken and is a good "Mother Hen" type but not great egg producer? What breed would you suggest for (A) meat production. (B) Egg production. (C) Breeding. The climate will be high desert 100F summer and 32F winters. Thanks for any input, planning for future.

 

[user 7704]

Mine that is broody is a Gold Laced Wyandotte. She stays broody most of the time. She has been sitting on a golf ball so I decided to let her give it a try.

My questions are: do I need to mark the initial eggs in case she grabs another and puts it in the pile. I want to know which ones to take inside.

Next.... do I just let her sit for 20+ days then if they don't hatch, throw them out? I'm guessing that with 2 roosters, the eggs are fertile.

 

[user 7704]

Are banty the same as Bantam? If so, they are just a smaller type of different breeds. Like miniature poodles.

My roosters are supposed to be Bantam Speckled Sussex but they are larger than usual.

When we see any small breed chicken, mom calls them Banty.

 

[brandx]

I only have experience with ducks and she laid and sat and raised her own. I would let nature take its course and see what happens. Are you afraid she will starve herself to death or something?

 

[brandx]

Are banty the same as Bantam? If so, they are just a smaller type of different breeds. Like miniature poodles.

My roosters are supposed to be Bantam Speckled Sussex but they are larger than usual.

When we see any small breed chicken, mom calls them Banty.

Yep, Gma always said "little banty hen", would lay and hide eggs, hard to find. wouldn't lay where they were supposed to.

 

[brandx]

Mine that is broody is a Gold Laced Wyandotte. She stays broody most of the time. She has been sitting on a golf ball so I decided to let her give it a try.

My questions are: do I need to mark the initial eggs in case she grabs another and puts it in the pile. I want to know which ones to take inside.

Next.... do I just let her sit for 20+ days then if they don't hatch, throw them out? I'm guessing that with 2 roosters, the eggs are fertile.

Just make a note of when she laid them, sit and watch. Sounds like fun to me.

 

[brandx]

When I was a kid we had a lot of banty chickens. A banty hen will try to hatch a light bulb if you let her. Many times I'd have a banty hen hatch out duck, quail and pheasant eggs, as well as chicken eggs. Bantys make great mother hens too. It was pretty humourous to watch a banty hen trying to keep a brood of baby ducks or quail in line.
Many of the more productive laying hens aren't very broody, so a couple banty hens could be a good option.

I heard that mother hens just have a fit when their baby ducks take to water. LOL

 

[Dani]

When we have a hen go broody we mark the eggs she is sitting on. She will collect eggs when the other girls to go lay. If you don't mark they will get mixed up. We will always collect the ones not marked. If not she keeps collecting and they will start breaking. Incubation is 28 days. I would throw them out after day 29 of it she stops sitting. You can always candle the eggs if you want to check it they are fertile.

 

[Mountain trapper]

@Arcticdude Please correct me if I am wrong. Banty is a type (breed) of chicken and is a good "Mother Hen" type but not great egg producer? What breed would you suggest for (A) meat production. (B) Egg production. (C) Breeding. The climate will be high desert 100F summer and 32F winters. Thanks for any input, planning for future.

Banty is just short for Bantm (sp). It's a small chicken, roughly half the size of a regular chicken. Bantms are good egg layers of small eggs. They will try to hatch the eggs, so it's important to collect all the eggs each morning if you plan to eat them. Just remember that the eggs are small and you'll need twice as many as for a full size hen.
I grew up with Bantys around the place. They are great foregers and really keep the bugs down.
Right now we're raising Red Rangers for meat. They take a little longer to get to butcher weight than the commercial breed like Cornish Cross. But they are better forgers and they don't have leg problems like the Cornish Cross are prone to. And they're supposed to be better eating.
For egg layers we have Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock, Silver Laced Wyondots (sp), Buff Orpetons and several others. We get brown, white and blue/green eggs. Out of 25 hens we get 18-24 eggs per day. This will drop off some during winter.
We picked each breed based on cold hardyness and egg production. Our summers here can reach as high as 92 degs in summer and for as long as 3 days, maybe 4. For hot weather you may want to look for chicken breeds with large combs. They can handle the heat better. We chose breeds with short combs due to our cold winter's.
Hope this helps.

 

[user 7704]

HOW THE HELL DO I FIX MY SUBJECT LINE. MY PHONE IS HAUNTED. YES, I AM YELLING. Never mind. I found the button.

 

[Mountain trapper]

HOW THE HELL DO I FIX MY SUBJECT LINE. MY PHONE IS HAUNTED. YES, I AM YELLING. Never mind. I found the button.

THEN TELL ME HOW TO STOP MAKING MULTIPLE POSTS! I'm not really yelling, just wanted to make sure that I'm heard.

 

[user 7704]

Banty is just short for Bantm (sp). It's a small chicken, roughly half the size of a regular chicken. Bantms are good egg layers of small eggs. They will try to hatch the eggs, so it's important to collect all the eggs each morning if you plan to eat them. Just remember that the eggs are small and you'll need twice as many as for a full size hen.
I grew up with Bantys around the place. They are great foregers and really keep the bugs down.
Right now we're raising Red Rangers for meat. They take a little longer to get to butcher weight than the commercial breed like Cornish Cross. But they are better forgers and they don't have leg problems like the Cornish Cross are prone to. And they're supposed to be better eating.
For egg layers we have Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock, Silver Laced Wyondots (sp), Buff Orpetons and several others. We get brown, white and blue/green eggs. Out of 25 hens we get 18-24 eggs per day. This will drop off some during winter.
We picked each breed based on cold hardyness and egg production. Our summers here can reach as high as 92 degs in summer and for as long as 3 days, maybe 4. For hot weather you may want to look for chicken breeds with large combs. They can handle the heat better. We chose breeds with short combs due to our cold winter's.
Hope this helps.

Arctic we have about the same breeds. My favorite is the Rhode Island Reds. They seem to lay longer than others.

My flock:
Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Gold Laced Wyandottes, Barred Rock, Cookoo Marans, Speckled Sussex, my roosters are Langshan. They are called gentle giants. Beautiful feathered feet and so gentle they eat out of my hand.

 

[user 7704]

THEN TELL ME HOW TO STOP MAKING MULTIPLE POSTS! I'm not really yelling, just wanted to make sure that I'm heard.

Just hit post reply once.

 

[user 7704]

So the hen had been broody for about 5 days. I let her keep her eggs and now she's out running around. Lol.

Maybe next time.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

I had Rhode Islands and some Buff Orptons, with an Egyptian rooster. And Appleyard ducks.

I had maybe 4 or 5 broody hens out of 20 ish that seemed to just lay.

I just watched which ones seemed to stay on the eggs and get mad when I tried to take them, then just left them alone. Pretty soon, there were some chicks. They stayed in the coop with the others, no problems.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Everyone here does know that keeping chickens has been linked to some forms of insanity? Right? But they're all really nice forms of crazy, so it's ok.

Keep in mind a broody hen will leave the nest a couple of times a day to go eat/drink/poop. But some hens will be broody, and just leave the eggs. No idea why, they're just stupid chickens...

Good luck!

 

[user 7704]

The reason for CAPS TODAY is because Trump tweeting to the Iranian President in all caps and the Liberals are actually trying to get his account suspended for shouting.

So people are doing #ALLCAPSDAY in honor of Liberal stupidity

 

[user 7704]

Everyone here does know that keeping chickens has been linked to some forms of insanity? Right? But they're all really nice forms of crazy, so it's ok.

Keep in mind a broody hen will leave the nest a couple of times a day to go eat/drink/poop. But some hens will be broody, and just leave the eggs. No idea why, they're just stupid chickens...

Good luck!

I love mine. I open the door and they come running to me looking for food. If I'm late with dinner, they come to the door and peck on it and stare inside.

They like to eat out of my hand. One of the first thing I learned is not to wear open toed shoes because they will peck those "big juicy worms". Especially if they are polished red. They think it's blood.

They have different personalities just like people.

 

[Maverick]

as long as you have a rooster the eggs will hatch, did the hens flare up when you tried to take a egg? that's a good sign you have broody hen.

 

[user 7704]

as long as you have a rooster the eggs will hatch, did the hens flare up when you tried to take a egg? that's a good sign you have broody hen.

No doubt about her broodiness. Her feathers stay ruffled when I pick up her eggs. She's been trying to hatch a golf ball. She was broody last month too. She has baby fever.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Just hit post reply once.

I do. But at times it doesn't send. So after awhile I hit it again. Then it posts 2 or 3 times.

 

[Maverick]

I have that problem with my post every great once in a while, I think its more with connection

 

[Mountain trapper]

No doubt about her broodiness. Her feathers stay ruffled when I pick up her eggs. She's been trying to hatch a golf ball. She was broody last month too. She has baby fever.

We have a couple Buff Orpingtons that act broody. But it doesn't last more than a day or so.

 

[Proud Prepper]

I do. But at times it doesn't send. So after awhile I hit it again. Then it posts 2 or 3 times.

I got you covered Artic, I delete your duplicates.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I have that problem with my post every great once in a while, I think its more with connection

A lot of times I don't have any connection at all unless I go up on top of the ridge to the east of the cabin. Right now I'm getting a good connection, but 5 minutes from now it could change.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I got you covered Artic, I delete your duplicates.

Thanks Rellgar. Once the house is finished I'll get satellite internet and a computer. Right now all I have is a cell phone. Very limited.

 

[tmttactical]

Thank you Arcticdude for the reply and all the others for the info.

 

[TexasFreedom]

I do. But at times it doesn't send. So after awhile I hit it again. Then it posts 2 or 3 times.

Oh, that explains it... I just thought you had a stuttering problem...