Can you force broodiness?

aart said:

Well, this was a bust....literally....
......only 2 eggs laid with all the fakes, well 3 as one must have dropped onto the fakes and broken, only found one small shell fragment and big mess.
7 other eggs laid in the 3 other nests with no fake eggs in them.

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Are you old enough to remember the TV commercial 'It's not nice to fool Mother Nature' -- I had a hen - flaring her hackles - (I had been gone for awhile thus a couple of eggs stacked up in the nest box that they like to use in that coop)--- and was sure that she was going broody.

I took out those eggs -- so I could put a couple of others under her and control the hatching better-- and put fakes in as place holders....guess what -- that un-broodied her in a hurry. She knew the difference...can't fool her.

:O(

Without a doubt, broodiness is a combination of light, hormones and the stars aligning.

But if those things are mostly right, I have possibly tipped a bird to going broody, by leaving a clutch of eggs for a few days...maybe.

But I have had a hen go Brodie in late May early June for the last 7 years. I am currently praying for one now

Mrs. K said:

Without a doubt, broodiness is a combination of light, hormones and the stars aligning.

But if those things are mostly right, I have possibly tipped a bird to going broody, by leaving a clutch of eggs for a few days...maybe.

But I have had a hen go Brodie in late May early June for the last 7 years. I am currently praying for one now

Click to expand...

Good luck!!

Talk about good luck!! I just put some eggs under one of my pullets -- she is in broody mode. She was glued to the fake egg in the nest box -- and may have added one of her own to the repository. When the hen is ready -- it doesn't take much.

Here is another indication - If you see huge huge huge poops (yeah I know - kind of gross) -- that look like the entire day's accumulation -- then her body has already made hormonal shifts. -- And broodiness is reputed to be 'contageous' -- Another little hen was sticking to the nestbox -- empty as it could be and piling some wood chips on her back to make it cozy. Twice she jumped off and sqwaked away -- the other one -- stuck tight - flared her hackles and raised a ruckus (two different coops)--- but I put some eggs out there for the other one - and last I looked...she was investigating them. So maybe I will have two.

On a really subtle level - a few days ago - the one who is more deeply showing signs of being broody-- instead of being the friendly curious personality she was - that would eat from your hand -- began to act standoffish -- and skittish.

Good luck to all who want the hen to do the work of the incubator and brooder.... happy hatching. After all it is Spring!