Which Chicken Breeds Are Broody? (And How to Care for Mother Hens)

L. Holloway is an experienced keeper of chickens and other fowl who has spent nearly a decade educating others on their habits and care.

What Is a Broody Hen?

A broody hen is simply a hen whose hormones have convinced her to sit on a nest of eggs, hatch them, and raise the chicks. There are many advantages to allowing your hens to brood.

• First and foremost, it eliminates the need for an incubator, as the hen will be able to evenly and consistently heat an average of 12 eggs or so without the help of electricity or thermostat.
• Secondly, a broody hen will serve as teacher and protector, keeping chicks warm, alerting them to danger, and teaching them how to find food and water in their environment. She will also help them integrate into the flock, delivering a furious barrage onto any other chickens foolish enough to abuse her chicks.

What Makes a Hen Go Broody?

Broodiness is a hormonal state that may manifest at random or in the presence of certain environmental triggers. Not all hens will go broody in their lifetime, while others will go broody repeatedly in the course of a single year. Some hens can be convinced to go broody by manipulating their environment, while others will be utterly unpredictable in when they decide to set. In some rare instances, roosters have even gone broody, taking to a nest of eggs to rear them without any help from a hen.

You Cannot Force Broodiness

Please note that it is not possible to force a hen to go broody. If you need to be able to control when and how often you hatch eggs, your best option is to invest in a reliable incubator. By following the advice offered in this article, you can increase your chances of acquiring a broody hen, but it will not be possible to guarantee results.

Choosing a Broody Breed

Not all breeds are created equally when it comes to the instinct to hatch and brood chicks.

• Production Breeds: Because hens who are brooding will not lay any new eggs, the tendency to go broody has been largely bred out of most production varieties, and it's virtually nonexistent in breeds developed for egg production.
• Ornamental Breeds: On the other hand, ornamental breeds are not expected to perform as prolifically as their production counterparts, and their brooding instinct has been left largely intact.
• Dual-Purpose Breeds: To a lesser extent, this is true of many dual-purpose breeds as well, though breeding lines that have stayed true to old standards are more likely to produce broody hens than chicks purchased from hatchery stock.

Any Breed May Go Broody

The important thing to remember is that any chicken of any breed may decide to go broody in her lifetime, even if only once. Although they are known to be extremely unlikely to brood, varieties like polish, leghorns, and sexlinks have been reported to go broody on occasion. Your best bet remains to go with breeds known for the trait, though there is always a chance one of your production breeds may decide to go broody if the mood strikes her.

Which Chicken Breeds Are Broody?

All chickens are individuals. Some breeds not known for being broody may decide to brood, while others who are typically broody may not set a clutch in their lifetime.

Extremely Likely to BroodReasonably Likely to BroodUnlikely to Brood

Silkies

Araucanas

Ancona

Cochins (bantam/standards)

Australorps

Andalusian

D'uccles

Brahmas (bantams/standards)

Appenzeller Spitzhauben

Booted Bantams

Orpingtons

Barnevelder

Japanese Bantams

Old English Game Bantams

Buckeye

 

Marans

Campine

 

Cornish (bantams/standards)

Chantecler

 

Delaware

Easter Egger Standard

 

Dominique

Hamburg

 

Dorking

Leghorns

 

Ameraucanas*

Polish

 

Easter Egger Bantams

Jersey Giants

 

Faverolles

Lakenvelders

 

Egyptian Fayoumis

Penedesencas

 

Hollands

Phoenix

 

Houdans

Rhode Island Reds (Hatchery)

 

Javas

Russian Orloffs

 

Langshans

Sebright Bantams

 

Leghorns

Red or Black Star (Selxinks)

 

Modern Game

Sultans

 

Naked Necks (Turkens)

Sumatras

 

New Hampshire Reds

White Faced Black Spanish

 

Plymouth Rocks

Yokohama

 

Rhode Island Red (Breeder)

 

 

Sussex

 

 

Welsummer

 

 

Wyandotte

 

My Personal Experience With Ameraucanas

Although they are not officially recognized as a broody breed, anecdotally, Ameraucanas have proven to be consistent and determined broodies, and they have raised several clutches of chicks in my own flock.

Please note the distinction between Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers. Most "Ameraucanas" and "Araucanas" sold in feed stores and hatcheries are actually Easter Eggers.

Recognizing a Broody Hen

Many of the normal nesting behaviors performed by all hens are commonly mistaken for being broody activity. If you see your hen lingering in a nest, pulling nesting material over her back, or growling ferociously at those who approach while she is nesting, know that these are all perfectly normal behaviors for any laying hen, broody or not. They do not indicate that your hen is considering hatching a clutch of eggs.

Broody Behavior

A broody hen will adopt a very unique demeanor, and the first time you witness it, you will immediately recognize it as different.

• She Stops Laying and Establishes a Nest: For starters, she will stop laying eggs, and will establish herself on a nest. Usually, broodies will prefer to set on a nest with eggs in it, but if you collect eggs regularly and she has no eggs to set, she will set up shop in an empty nest instead.
• She Stays Put: She will remain on the nest day and night, refusing to roost with the other chickens, and getting up only to eat, drink, and poop.
• She Puffs Up: When she does get off the nest, she will puff herself up larger than normal, fan out her tail, and make irritated noises at any chickens who get too close to her while she is eating and drinking.
• She Zooms Back to Her Nest: She will move as though on fast-forward, in a hurry to get back to her nest (empty or not) where she will once again settle into a trance-like state and remain until her next constitutional.

Caring for a Broody Hen

Generally speaking, broody hens will get off the nest once or twice a day to see to their needs, but if you notice that your broody hen has started defecating in her nesting box, it means that she is not getting up to relieve herself, and probably isn't eating or drinking, either. It may be necessary to remove your hen from the nesting box once a day and set her down on the floor so that she will be snapped from her trance long enough to eat, drink, and relieve herself.