Self perpetuating chicken flock

[1Admin]

This is a good point to get to, where you flock is self perpetuating.

[Karen]

Our broodiest hens are all buff orpingtons. My girls take about 20 days to hatch out eggs.

[1Admin]

I've never counted the days, figured about a month. Good to know a day span though, thanks

[motesjm]

You can make most hens go broody by trapping her in a nest box with eggs under her. It takes a few days of confinement and of course you have to provide her with food and water while she's trapped. After a few days you can let her out and she will go out to eat or drink and come right back to the nest and sit. We've even gotten this to work with some of our Rhode Island Reds which are the least broody hens we've raised.

[Karen]

Awesome! I had no idea that you could make a hen go broody.
Thanks :-)

[rockriver]

impressive.
do you lock up the chickens each night... to protect them from predators.
rr

[MustangGal]

I bought my Buff Orpingtons, specifically because they were supposed to be more broody than other breeds - not a single one has. Ironically, one of my sex-links - which almost never go broody - did. lol

We haven't had good luck with our chickens - the one clutch that did hatch was a single chick and the darn thing ended up being a rooster!

My Muscovy ducks all went broody about the same time. I only have four hens and all of them were sitting at one time. The third just hatched her clutch, so one more to go.