Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hi, hope this is in the right branch/forum, I could not find a "selling/buying" thread. please redirect me if there is one.

My name is Patrick and I am looking for 4 broody hens! They would receive their chicks (day old) in mid June.

I would pay you 60$ for either selling or borrowing me the hens for a few weeks (until 10 weeks after hatch maximimum).

I am an experienced backyard chicken keeper, originally from Austria where I kept and bred Australorps, Araucana, Marans, Brahma hens and a few others. Your broody will be in good hands and return unharmed and healthy after her chicks no longer need her around.

Please send me a private message if you do have current or potential broody hens that you would be willing to borrow/sell.

Thanks a lot!

Patrick

It might help if we knew where you are located.

Hmm that's a bit of a tricky request- you'd want hens that were already setting for close to three weeks, so someone would have to dump those almost hatched eggs, and then you might have the problem of the hens possibly deciding that they aren't going to look after those chicks in a new strange location, plus all the quarrantine- for $240 bucks you could build yourself a nice brooder, if you are getting day old chicks anyway. Just a thought.

I have to agree with Robbie : that's a tricky request. Also, even if you are able to find hens that are broody when you need them to be and will take care of the chicks, once you're done with them, there's the whole quarantine/re-integration process that needs to happen when they go back home. As Robbie said, you can build a nice brooder for the money that you are planning on spending for broody hens. Plus you can keep the brooder for future use, if not as a brooder, then as an infirmary, or even as a broody nest area should one of your chicks grows up and decide to go broody at some point. There are a number of electric broody hen substitutes out there for sale as well that you can put into your brooder - Brinsea Eco Glow and Sweeter Heater are two examples. Premier1 also sells heating plates with covers. Any of those might be a good alternative for you.

I agree with everyone else. I have 3 excellent broody hens.... but if I so much as move them, or the eggs, or anything else to piss them off... they just decide to not cooperate, and quit.

Hallo Patrick!
welcome to PTO!
you won't find classifieds in the forum. We moved them to their own location here: http://www.poultrytalkontario.net/site/ ... rowse-ads/
If you want to let the forum know (just to be sure), we have a thread here where people announce that there is a new ad: http://www.poultrytalkontario.net/forum ... f=26&t=694

Good luck starting your hobby again on this side of the ocean!

Thanks for all your replies everyone! few things;

The broodies will not go into a flock of other chickens, but into seperate spacious pens. no quarantine needed.
I do not need them for the purpose of sitting on eggs- the eggs will be incubated with an incubator and moved underneath the hen as day old chicks over night (I have done that before, works easy and smooth, they readily adopt them)

Eggs; I hope nobody would keep eggs underneath the hen and then throw them out after some weeks, the way I do it is to either give them store-bought non-fertile eggs or artificial eggs until the fertile ones or chicks arrive. I would expect that that´s what everyone would do if they wanted to keep a hen broody.

I need the hens for a behavioral study, I am a PhD student in Poultry Science, Guelph. I am putting out the word so that people who might have a hen that happens to start sitting soon can contact me and I can pick her up and settle her in a week before the chicks hatch (beginning of June).

I did not want to annoy people with the details of my request but I understand the confusion. The trial is purely behavioral, we will also collect fecal samples but nothing invasive, not even blood collection. A licenced vet would check on them before they are used to make sure they are healthy and in good condition to be adoptive mums.

sry for the long reply, I hope this clears things up a bit and thanks again for your very fast replies!

Patrick

and all of you are perfectly right; that the hens might quit when they are being moved, that´s why intend to get a few of them (6-7) to make sure that 4 will end up sitting until the chicks hatch. I used to do that with Australorp eggs/chicks and Brahma hens. my australorps never went broody but I wanted the chicks to be raised by hens- so I incubated the eggs until 3 days before hatch and then gave them to a broody brahma. That, or I gave them day old chicks whenever I bought chicks. they would adopt them and be great mums to them.
That´s why I would like to do the same thing for my upcoming trial. rearing behavior in chickens is underestimated and so is the impact a broody hen has on her brood. :) I hope you see what I am planning? :) sorry for confusing everyone and thanks so much for all your help/advice!! I really appreciate it!

Great, now it makes sense. Good luck with your study.

Your best bet may be to find some silkies...even if they break broody when moved to their new accomodations, they go broody at the drop of a hat and it shouldn't be long before they settle in again. Other than that, you will have to find hens that are already sitting nests in a portable container like a cat cage or tote box--if the hens can be moved lock, stock and barrel, they are more likely to stay setting, but even the car ride may break broodiness, so it's a gamble.