Raise Your Best Flock Using Broody Hens

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Use a broody hen to hatch chicks for a new level of satisfaction in raising chickens. Silkie hens (shown here) are one of the best broody chicken breeds — you can set eggs of other breeds from your flock, such as the Buff Orpingtons pictured in the background, under your Silkie mother hen for her to hatch and raise.
Use a broody hen to hatch chicks for a new level of satisfaction in raising chickens. Silkie hens (shown here) are one of the best broody chicken breeds — you can set eggs of other breeds from your flock, such as the Buff Orpingtons pictured in the background, under your Silkie mother hen for her to hatch and raise.
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Using a broody hen is rewarding and fun, especially with a fluffy Silkie mother hen.
Using a broody hen is rewarding and fun, especially with a fluffy Silkie mother hen.
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Pipping, shown at left, is when a chick first pecks a hole in its egg. The chick will usually break out of the egg within 24 hours.
Pipping, shown at left, is when a chick first pecks a hole in its egg. The chick will usually break out of the egg within 24 hours.
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Egg incubators, such as this Brinsea countertop model, offer another way to hatch chicken eggs if you don't have a broody hen.
Egg incubators, such as this Brinsea countertop model, offer another way to hatch chicken eggs if you don't have a broody hen.
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Candle eggs with a bright flashlight to ensure there is a viable embryo inside.
Candle eggs with a bright flashlight to ensure there is a viable embryo inside.

There are four main ways you can obtain chicks: from a mail-order hatchery (almost year-round), from a local farm store (mostly in spring), by placing fertile eggs in an incubator (anytime), or by placing fertile eggs under a hen that has “gone broody” (usually in spring). If you decide to order by mail, you can find hatcheries near you in our online Hatchery Directory. If you want to buy from a store, the Tractor Supply Co. chain offers a great selection of chickens and ducks during its annual Chick Days each spring. The stores will even process special orders so you can choose the breeds you want and also select “straight run” chickens (males and females) or females only. 

Now, on to working with broody hens. What follows is an adaptation from poultry expert Harvey Ussery’s terrific book, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, which gives advice on pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know to raise your own chickens. — MOTHER EARTH NEWS 

Using a broody hen to raise your chicks provides several additional benefits to both the chicks and you. The mother forages natural foods — mostly insects — for her chicks, keeps her young ones warm even while ranging on pasture and through cooler weather, and provides devoted protection from predators. The flock-keeper who chooses to foster broodiness (the inclination for a hen to hatch her own eggs) will be rewarded with a healthy, self-sustaining flock.

Modern Breeding vs. Broody Hens

Commercial hybrid breeds lay lots of eggs, but they aren’t a good choice if you want hens that will go broody. In today’s era of mass production of chicks via artificial incubation, broodiness is considered not merely an unnecessary nuisance but an economic calamity. After all, a broody hen ceases laying eggs when she’s incubating eggs and caring for chicks. Thus, a major component of modern poultry breeding has been to select against the broody trait in favor of hens that simply lay their egg per day, having forgotten that doing so has any relation to reproducing the species.

  • Published on Oct 30, 2012
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