Every year we get a hen or two who go "broody." If you're not familiar with the term, a broody hen is one that has decided to stop laying eggs until it has hatched a clutch of chicks and raised them. Most of the hatcheries try to breed this trait out of their birds. I've heard of some old fashioned remedies for breaking a hen's broodiness but I've never tried any of them. I find it much simpler to let the hen do "her thing." In fact, I like having broody hens! They save me time, money, and space.
Even if I skipped the daily monitoring of an incubator and bought chicks, I'd have the daily upkeep of them. Cleaning the brooder is a stinky, messy job. If there's one thing they love to do, it's scratch! They will scratch their bedding material into their food and water every chance they get. Rigging up a light to keep them warm is also time consuming. And once it is all set up, I have to check it multiple times a day to make sure it is still safe and at the correct distance from the chicks. Once the chicks are old enough to leave the brooder, I have to spend a few days introducing them to the flock and making sure they've learned to come into the coop to roost.
The first year I had chickens, I bit the bullet and bought an incubator. That was an expensive venture! After the eggs hatched, I bought a brooder tub, bedding chips, heat light, and chick feeder and waterer. I told myself it was all an investment and that the costs wouldn't seem so bad after I'd used it a few times. And that probably would have been true, except for the next problem.... space.
All those things took up a lot of room in storage. It takes approximately 1 month to hatch eggs. The next 11 months of the year, the incubator just collects dust. The same can be said for all the stuff to brood the chicks. Once the chicks are in the coop, I found myself stacking things on top of their supplies and having to hunt them up again the next time I got eggs to hatch.
Now that I keep a broody hen, I'm a lot happier. When she goes broody I have options. I can let her hatch some of our eggs or put a different bunch under her. I can even give her dummy eggs and switch them out for chicks if I find some I want. She's happy to hatch them and keep them warm and safe. Our hens have raised guineas and turkeys, also. They train them to stay with the flock, how to get food and water, and where to roost every night. They also train the rest of the flock to respect them.
