Okay, you can probably tell I'm new at this. I can't get my hens to sit their eggs. I tried building roosting stations and the hens broke and ate their own eggs. They had plenty of feed and water. My grandmother said chickens hatched in the machine won't sit their eggs. Any truth to this and what do I do to get them to hatch their eggs? I tried putting their eggs in the duck nest but the ducks kick them out.
Most breeds of chickens today are bred not to "go broody". meaning,, they're bred so they don't have the trait to sit on their eggs. Most people don't want them to, they collect the eggs daily, which is what I do. Occasionally, I do have a hen "go broody". My chickens are free range, I sell the free range eggs, but I do have one hen running around with a chick. There may be breeds that are more likely to go broody than others, but I don't know what breed that would be. I don't think it has anything to do with them being incubated artificically, though.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
RichZ is correct. The brooding instinct has been bred out of many breeds of hens. I don't know what breed you are working with but that may be the case here. Also, if your hen is not completely molted in the stomach area, she will not be able to sit on her eggs and provide the correct amount of warmth and humidity.
Yes, it is highly dependant on the breed of chix. Look at Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart The 7th column is broodiness. I like anoyingly frequent brooders myself. We want hen raised babies & want to be able to put our Freedom Ranger chicks under hens to have her raise them.
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