Fertile Eggs, No Broody Hens

[TheOnlyDuke]

So for the last few weeks, 3 or 4 of my chickens have been laying fertile eggs. I have a very active roster and the eggs that the hens are laying have the "bulls-eye" so i know they are potential chicks. The only problem i have is none of my hens are broody or even nesting. Is there anything that i can do or change to get them to take care of t eggs?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

If my hens see a lot of eggs in the nestbox they tend to go broody quicker than if I collect the eggs regularly. I'm battling 3 hens right now that's wanting to go broody.

 

[Spangled]

Is there anything that i can do or change to get them to take care of t eggs?

Not in my experience. I finally ended up just buying some Buff Wyandottes and some Black Copper Marans.

For hens to go broody, they have to have some broody genetics left in them for them to go broody. Most chickens have been bred over the years to be "egg laying," which means that if a hen in that group went broody it was removed from the laying flock because egg laying was the main trait that was being focused on. If they were broody and raising chicks, then they laid fewer eggs over a year than a chicken that never went broody. Once removed, broody hens' eggs weren't available to be hatched and those genes weren't perpetuated, thus ending broodiness in that group of chickens and guaranteeing more eggs on average per year.