I'd happily pass you my broody for the experiment, but I'm three oceans away from you so I don't think that would work...
Leave a clutch of eggs in a nest box for several days, preferably fake ones to avoid a mess. When the hens see it, it might tempt one of them into going broody. That's how...
Uum... take some blood samples to see who is related to whom? (I'm sorry I don't know any other ways to find out for sure...)
Your idea sounds great. Once the chicks are no longer with their mamas, maybe legband them to keep track of their rate of lay? Trap nests would also help to count egg...
@aart - I see. I started out with a flock of bendys, and later looked for other chickens to try out in my backyard. It took me five years and alot of reading on BYC, but I narrowed it down to Chanteclers, Russian Orloffs, Ameraucanas and Buckeyes. Ameraucana misrepresentation is widespread here...
LOL that's easier said than done, most breeders in my area sell pullet eggs, especially if it's a rare breed of chicken. The last time I asked one about the age of his hens, he never outright answered me xD
@aart - I don't think it was anecdotal supposition, the breeder who wrote that comment had observed this tendency often enough in his/her own flock that saying it to other breeders would not sound like superstition. It was not specified whether trap nests were used to count egg production, so...
I've read similarly on my side. Apparently a hen only reaches full maturity at 2 years old. Also, the chicks have an easier time hatching from hen eggs than from pullet eggs, as hen eggshells are thinner. But it doesn't explain how a girl hatched from a hen egg would have a longer laying...
I had a hen close to 8 years old whom I hatched chicks from twice a few years ago. Alas my coop was full so I had to re-home both cockerels and pullets. Now I can't help but wonder though, how much those pullets would have laid.
While browsing about chickens on another site, I came across an interesting comment. It said that hens hatched from pullets' eggs did not lay for as long in their lives as the hens hatched from 2 years old hens and older. Has anybody else observed this difference in egg-laying capacity within...