# Who are the best setters you have raised?



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

good morning everyone, 

I am thinking of starting out with some little bantams, but I want ones that will set adn raise thier own young. I am wondering what would be the best breeds for setting hens?

Thanks


----------



## English Oliver (Jul 2, 2008)

My Black Austrolorp's are great setters, anytime they see a nest with more than three eggs they try to set. Once they start setting they will stay with it till the end. They will set on Guinea or duck eggs. The Buff Orpingtons I have will set for a few days and then quit the nest. 

"O"


----------



## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Many breeds have had the broodiness bred out of them. Bantams usually go broody, though. Dominiques are supposed to be good setters and mothers.


----------



## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

I think Silkies are the best. 
My marans are a close second, they don't set as annoying often as the silkies, but have a few who will raise twice a yr, and one who will raise 3 batches.


----------



## Delinda (Dec 5, 2005)

If you are wanting bantams, Silkies are great setters, as are bantam cochins.


----------



## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I'll tell you what you do.. look in the local paper or on the board at the feed store etc..
for a game hen. Or as you are driving around and you see an old farm with some hens running in the yard, stop and in a beg to buy one.
They are great setters and when you breed them in and hatch from them you get more setters.
Silkies set, but they are so tiny and their feathers aren't really very good insulators and in cooler temps the eggs can get too chill. And it is a game of chance on other breeds setting.. I have several that set, of all different breeds, but I have more that don't and never did. I have gone through hundereds of birds and only have about 5 that will set.
But my game mix hen.. who is about 7 now, is a guarantee. And her offspring are a guarantee!


----------



## KOHL HAWKE (May 8, 2010)

My silkie has been the best setter and best mom so far, but she dosnt give many eggs. I usaly sneek other eggs under her. She rased 2 geese one year. The others are banty breeds, we have one leghorn that sits and hatches 7-10 every year but she usaly looses 4-5 to predators. She has done this twice now, I think I am going to take some away next brood. The silkie will not let any one near hers and keeps them close. I noticed too that the older they get, the more prone they are to brood. Just what goes on here, we wish you luck!


----------



## bluejett (May 17, 2010)

My barred rocks went broody their first year, this year I let one hatch some eggs out and she was an amazing mama, I had a few others start to go broody but I broke them, they were RIRs, white rocks, black australorps and a few other barreds.


----------



## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

our old english game hen banties are very good setters - and just delightful, calm, sociable birds. Pretty too!

For full size chickens the best setters we've had were chanticlers - those things were obnoxiously intent on hatching several clutches no matter what I did or said. I think a hen should lay her first egg and continue laying at least 3 months before going broody! the chanticlers went broody maybe 2 weeks after laying their first egg?!


----------



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Thanks for the help everyone, I was thinking silkies, but they kind of look funny. 
When You are talking about "Game Hens", is that the birds that they use to fight? Does one have to house those birds as individuals, or is there a differn't kind of game fowl? 

One place I was reading from recommended crossing silkies, with a larger breed, then breed among the offspring to keep them 1/2 silkie 1/2 larger bird, because they set just as well but cover more eggs. Kind of like creating a " back yard Breed". Has any one done anything like that? any Ideas what I could cross them with to create such a "back yard setting hen"


----------



## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Right now I have a bantam cochin, a barred rock and a black australorp that are all broody. The BA was also broody last year as was the Bantam Cochin. This is the first year for the BR and she's doing a great job so far.


----------



## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

Buff Orpingtons, hands down! I've got one that hatched 11 chicks two weeks ago, and I've got another 3 hens setting now.


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

my pheonix are all setters and very predator resistent!


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I've had good luck with Buff Orpingtons and Standard Cochins.
None of my Barred Rocks have ever gone broody


----------



## WstTxLady (Mar 14, 2009)

I have 2 bantam cochins that are setting now & have been GREAT. One is set to hatch today or tomorrow or anytime lol. They can get about 4-6 standard eggs under them but I only did 4 each to try it out. They have been the BEST I have seen yet. I have some standard Barred Rocks (suck, never broody) and some Silver Laced Wyandottes (one went broody for a few days & stopped). The bantam cochins have earned top broody spot so far.

Oh and the bantam cochins are first time broodies, just starting to lay, not even a year old & doing great.


----------



## Betty Jean (Jan 7, 2009)

I have a broody Buff Orpington right now (Not the same one that was broody all last summer) and there are no eggs left under her, and we have no rooster. 

I even took out the wooden eggs from the nesting boxes. 

This one will peck at you hard when you go to check for eggs, too. DH won't check her anymore, LOL because it was making her "upset".


----------



## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

Last year, two of my Easter Egger hens hatched out eight half-Silkie chicks (total). I got six pullets and two cockerels from that cross, and so far four of the six pullets have gone broody and stayed broody long enough to have hatched a clutch of eggs (I kept taking the eggs from under them, though). Not only are the EE X Silkie chickens good broodies, when they aren't brooding, they seem to lay well (so far, anyway -- they won't be a year old until August), and are also quite pretty, in my opinion! They aren't quite as big as their EE mothers (and whoever said that Silkies were tiny was mistaken, as they are one of the largest of the bantam types), but I'm sure they could each cover eight to ten large eggs with no problem. My Wyandotte hen covered twelve eggs, for comparison (she hatched out some shipped Faverolles eggs for me, three Salmons and three Whites, and it looks like I have a trio of each!). Speaking of Faverolles, there are bantam Faverolles, and it sounds like they can be good broody hens, too. I'll post some pictures of a couple of the hens and one of the cockerels (I gave the other cockerel away last week).

Kathleen


----------



## southrngardngal (Oct 18, 2005)

My silkies were great setters. They would hatch, raise and be ready to set again. I always put six eggs under them and they'd hatch every one of the eggs every time. 

I use past tense because dogs killed the last ones we had and we haven't been able to find anyone who sells them in our area. I'm buying three game hens this week. I've been told they make good setters too.


----------



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Thanks for all the help. Today I bought 8 silkie chicks. I know that there will be no setting done this year, but If they are not all males, I should have some for next year. I am going to try them pure first, and if that doesn't work out so well, then I will try crossing them with something to create something differnt. Thanks


----------



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Ok, So now I have a year to get ready to hatch eggs under silkies. 

It seems by the response that there are lots of people on here that hatch with hens, so now I need some help to prepare to do that. 

What types of coops do you use for setting hens? 

Can you house them all together? or do they need thier own coops? 

anything else I should know before I design a "setting room"? Some of the old books on line discribe a setting room, made for hatching, I am going to look into some of thier discriptions, but what does eveyone find works? what doesn't work?


----------



## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

I love Silkies.....they are wonderful mothers.....


----------



## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

Only one I have had actually hatch eggs and raise chicks was a black sex link I called "big mamma"- she did two seperate clutches and raised them up on her own- she was a great mother. I have a Buff Orpington now who is broody- I shall see how she does.


----------



## KOHL HAWKE (May 8, 2010)

My hens use/brood in nest boxes that we use for every day laying. When the chicks are hatched we move mama and peeps out to a dog run in the big barn for a week or two so she can teach them to eat/scratch and stay close, this also allows babies and mom a chance at some higher protien feed. Then they are alowed to free range in the pasture.
One year we had a banty that we couldnt keep in the pasture brood under a lawnmower! she hatched out 5 chicks! But since she just wouldnt stay in the pasture the neighbors dog got them all, my son was devistated. 
There are so many ways to raise chickens and all are sucessful! I am sure you will find a way that will work wonderful and be posting photos of your chicks next year.


----------



## KOHL HAWKE (May 8, 2010)

http://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/nestingbox.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Use-a-Chicken-Nesting-Box---Roosting-Box&id=1597975
http://shilala.homestead.com/housing.html
Here are a few web-sites for a visual but we have used milk crates and recycle bins with a notch cut out. Be creative is my moto. We did finaly build a few of the 4 hole boxes, but we still find eggs in our hay feeder! Good luck and keep me updated on your silkies!


----------

