[suziequeue]

We are planning to expand our chicken enterprise and I am thinking that I would like to get a couple of hens that go broody easily so that I can hatch some eggs under them.


Which are best breeds for this?

[sokel]

Our Silkies seem to go broody just at the sight of an egg and we also have some light sussex x silky bantams that go broody every chance they get

[Daisys Mum]

I also have silkies that go broody at the sight of an egg I also have light Sussex which go broody a lot of the time.

[Victorian Farmer]

you need a gold top silki

[bigchicken]

Silkie cross Sussex is the popular broody, My wyandotte bantams are good broodies I have a partridge and a black who are sitting tight

[HesterF]

Silkies or Silky crosses are supposed to be the most broody. However, I've gone for Orpingtons which are also notoriously broody and currently have my first sitting on duck eggs. They're big hens so they can cope with duck and goose eggs as well which works for me. I also love the look of them and their temperament which are both factors in choosing a breed (or were for me anyway).

H

[sokel]

I only once used a Buff Orpington, she sat for 11 days and then decided she had had enough and got off the nest, we quickly got the eggs into an incubator when we found them but they had obviously got cold because we only got 5 out of 12 hatch, the rest where not fully developed and D.I.S.

[gillsta]

Silkies all the way. They can't help themselves. 

[mentalmilly]

We have a silkie hen laying and no sign of broodiness.  My Indian Game hen rears 2 lots every year, fantastic mum,  and Game x Sussex a good broody.

[Brijjy]

I've got two ancient silkie x pekin bantams that will sit on a rock! My brother in law bred them and he calls them cloppers for some reason! They didn't sit well last summer as I think the weather completely threw them. The only hen that did sit last year was a partridge cochin.

[chrismahon]

Silkies.

[Rosemary]

Ruby, one of our Black Orpingtons, raised two broods last year and one of the other Black Orps is sitting now. Too early to tell is she'll stick it out.

Silkies and Silkie x Light Sussex are the two I've always believed are the best broodies.

[Marches Farmer]

You can never tell.  We've had Campines that sat like glue and other supposedly broody breeds that wandered off two days from hatch! 

[firemansam]

gold tops for me (light sussex x silkie) mine go broody 4 0r 5 times a year all year, not bothered if its July or Jan. They sit for 35 days too. Lay eggs all year round and are very friendly.
I love them.

[Mrs Snoodles]

I've got two ancient silkie x pekin bantams that will sit on a rock! My brother in law bred them and he calls them cloppers for some reason! They didn't sit well last summer as I think the weather completely threw them. The only hen that did sit last year was a partridge cochin.

Last summer ...what summer??
Pekins for me, although you are limited in how many eggs you can fit under a hen.