What breed of chicken do I get that would lay on her eggs and hatch them out?I have golden comets and black sexlinks which I know will not do that.I need something that will be cold hardy as it gets down below 0 in the winter here in northern Maine.This will be my first winter with chickens I have a little coop and a light in it and a bulb in a box with the waterer sitting on top of it to keep the water from freezing.My girls are 6 months old and some are laying I got 7 eggs today,I have a rooster he is black sexlink looks like a barred rock.But come spring I would like to get some new chickens to go with these,do the road island reds go broody?Thanks for any info. green
want a hen that will set on eggs,must be cold hardy
RIR are not very broody. Good broodies for cold weather include: Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Sussex, New Hampshire, Delawares, Brahmas, Jersey Giants and Orpingtons. The Chantacleer is very cold hardy, but I don't know how broody they are.
Thanks a lot ,which are the friendly?The ones I have now are so friendly and the grandkids can pick them up and no pecking.
The Orpingtons, Brahmas, Jersey Giants, Delawares and Sussex are supposed to be very gentle. I think the Plymouth Rocks are generally too. I don't know about Wyandottes and New Hampshires. The Chantacleer which was bred in Canada to be cold hardy is reported to be less friendly--but I don't think any of the ones above are agressive. Orpingtons can be very sweet and pet like.
Get a silkie. Mine will sit golf balls and they stay out all winter. I even had one hatch out turkey and duck eggs for me. You just wait till the start a nest (which in my experience is just about ANY time ) and substitute the eggs you want them to hatch. They don't come any friendlier either. SIlkies will sit on your lap as long as you want to pet them.
Silkies are the most lovable birds and great broodies--but I am not sure they are considered good layers. If laying isn't that important, I would definitely get a Silkie. I love them.
in there season mine lay one every day or two so they are fairly good but that might just be me i know a couple of sites that say they dont lay regularly and they are also great for kids
green04735,
Virtuallly all breeds are cold hardy enough. Temps in Maine are not any colder than where I am. I've had 60+ breeds. They're all fine for broody in my experience except perhaps Cubalaya (from Cuba).
Take this to the bank ..... THE BEST BROODY chicken breeds are :
1) Game Fowl ... they stop in the fall thru spring but they ALL go broody
2) Silkies .......... longer broody periods but extremely NOT hardy
3) Cochins......... broody less and shorter periods.
4) the others mentioned previous above tied for 4th ... The 1, 2, 3 here are indisputably the best broodys and everyone with a few years experience KNOWS it to be true or they lack experience with the 3 listed.
5) worst broody hens are breeds like Leghorns, etc; You can find a list of chickens that are dedicated to laying and pretty much won't go broody. RIR, Barred Rock, etc. My Welsumer hens have briefly gone broody but have been more impressively steady at laying. I even had a Danish Brown Leghorn go broody. So even the worst of broody list will do so on occasion.
Kelly in Moxee
I have had bantam cochins for 7 years and i have them for their broody nature to hatch my oegb eggs.
They are alot of the breeders i know's choice for a brood hen and they are excellent mothers and i have 7 years experinence in these.
One man i know use's them to hatch his quail eggs.
I have had game fowl and the hens did not do well as brooders and i hatched their eggs under a
cochin.
If fact i'm ordering about 25 come spring partridge my favorites^_^
i agree with harmony, bantam cochins are great. mine is sitting on eggs right now for me
Jordan what kind do you have and they are just sweet hearts mine will lay about 8 eggs and go broody i have a hard time keeping up.
wally is a goldlaced black cochin. jezzebell is goldlaced black cochin bantam.they are my favorite, and so lovable. they're children are ust as beautiful
I allways tell people if you want a good pet chicken get cochins or silkie's they are the most friendly of the bantam breeds.
wally is a standard but still sweet and lovable
I think the concern is not just broodiness, but cold hardiness, laying and gentleness. With below 0 temps you would want a rooster with a very small comb. If snow is extreme (60-90 inches?) would you want a bird with feathered feet? And if you are comparing laying with sex-links, you are probably going to have fewer eggs with any dual purpose breed.
Cochins, Brahmas sound good for broodiness and gentleness. My Welsummer has been a ferocious brooder--she was on the nest for over a month as was my Marans--although in those breeds broodiness is suppose to be strain related.
Good point Cat my oegb are very broody but wouldn't stand up to the cold they would need a heat source.
We have mild winters for the most part here and our weather is always changeing in winter i've seen it be 70 degrees one day and couple days later it will freeze or snow.
Catscan,
I've had only a brief experience with Welsumer hens as a broody. I've been discouraging all of mine. I've had several people indicate tell me they are extremely great mothers once they are allowed to hatch.
The breed of chicken I've been wanting forever is the Blommehonne or Swedish Flower Hen. They are supposed to be incredible broody's. But alas they are ONLY in Europe. I exchanged emails in a group where someone said they bought a dozen eggs from someone in the US via eBay with Swedish Flower Hens. They paid a small fortune for the eggs and guess what ... not a single egg hatched. It was a scam. The birds are simply not in the Western Hemisphere. There are several chicken breeds or color varieties of breed that are basically impossible to get in the USA but are all over Europe. Nobody in Australia has a New Jersey Giant. There are hundreds of examples of chicken breeds elsewhere but not anywhere but elsewhere.
Kelly in Moxee
How fascinateing i never knew all that i guess we take for granted what we consider common chickens when others in other places have never seen them or desperatly want them.
When i got my diamond doves last weekend i remarked to my DH that i bet somewhere in the world those are common and may even be considered a pest.
Yet we covet them and want them here just fascinateing;)
i never tried it yet but a farmer told me when he wanted a broody hen he would put a bushel basket over it for a day or 2 . he said he tried it twice and it worked both times
green04735,
A great breed for laying in the cold winter months and are very cold hardy are the Wyandottes. I'd say the white or the Silver Laced are great egg layers in the winter months when other breeds might stop. They'll go broody too ... like most breeds.
Kelly in Moxee
I have found that the feathered legged chickens to have a problem--moisture sticks to their feathers on their feet and they walk around with balls of ice stuck to these feathers. The ice can then rip the featheres right out. If you have a place that is very dry, you can do ok. Otherwise, if your feathered legged type chickens have to get their feet wet for any reason you are going to have problems. That is to say in very cold weather.
Our building that we had the chickens in was insulated but when it got real cold, we had to figure something out for a waterer. We came up with using an old air kennel and placing the metal waterer in that. We didn't have electricity so that made things more complicated. Anyway, keep your feather legged fancies dry and you should be ok.
I plan on using a oil lamp type heater to keep the bottom of the metal waterer warm, if I don't have electricity. That way, the poultry can get warm water, keep all their feathers dry, and everyone is happy especially me.
I am also planning on having Wyandottes for eggs and hardiness. Broodiness I think I might have to use another breed of chicken. But, I am thinking of using an incubator anyway so that won't matter.
Hope this helps.
CS