Is the tendency to brood contagious??

[mmktdox]

I have a BR who hatched seven little chicks five days ago. They are all fine and she seems to be caring for them very well (smart chicken!). Now a second BR is hanging out in a corner of the coop, just sitting. I'm wondering if she's caught the fever too? She's not sitting on any eggs, just sitting! And my egg production is wayyy down, I only have four hens to beging with, three BRs and one production red. I'm only getting one egg a day now. So either the other's have started to go broody or they're laying eggs when they're free ranging. They've always free ranged so that's nothing new. Kind of weird eh?

 

[honeybunny]

I'm pretty sure broodiness isn't contagious, there's just a certain time in the season that turns the instinct on and they start to sit. My Silver laced Wyandotte has been broody for a while now, I always take her eggs away that she's sitting on. She just hides out in the nestbox, unfortunately, and some hens even get eager enough to lay an egg that they'll just barge in on where she's sitting to lay an egg! I also have a barred rock that is getting broody, too. >.< That means only 5 hens are laying for me.

 

[cubbysan]

I have a female Cayuga duck that has gone broody two summers in a row. Last year about a week after she went broody, I had a female Pekin go broody with her. The Pekin sat right beside the Cayuga, so they were sitting on the same eggs. They would take turns leaving the eggs to eat. Unfortunately, the eggs never hatched.