7 month old buff orpington hen broody, in January?

[nbryan]

Is it common for hens to start brooding middle of winter? After a little research here it appears one of our 18 buff hens has become broody. They all just started laying in December and share the coop with 2 buff orp roosters and 6 dark cornish hens, same age. This hen bristles and blasts out a withering screech/squawk that gets louder the closer I approach. Has been there a few days and won't move. As our eggs from the rest of the flock are likely fertile, giving her a bunch to incubate would be easy enough, but raising chicks in beginning of February? We just went through a long bitter cold spell and could easily see that again soon even with normal Feb. weather south east Manitoba. There's some heat from a 200w ceramic heat lamp but it gets well below freezing (-10C to -15C if its blistering -40 out) in the coop at night. The birds seem fine and healthy and came through that cold blast looking just fine, laying 12-20 eggs a day from 24 hens.
I had a regular heat lamp in there (bright red 175W) but it seemed to keep them too busy at night and natural light cycles make sense to me so I got the "dark" ceramic bulb a week ago. The change in lighting seemed to slowly curtail egg production a bit and we went from 23 eggs one day to about 12 a day now. I hope once they settle in to regular light rythms that will pick up again.

Is it worth taking a chance of her actually hatching out in February? Or should I consider trying other ways to disrupt her broodiness? Suggestions?

 

[LRH97]

I just always let my hens try to hatch every time they feel like it. If she's been there a couple of days, it sounds like she's certainly broody (of course it's possible that she may abandon the nest after a week or so, which is common for first-setters, however, I've never had an Orpington who's never finished the job.). I've also had winter hatches. It would be easiest to isolate the broody girl and put a heat lamp on her. It's gotten to about -2 degrees F here and when I have chicks, I put two red bulbs over them and they've been fine. But since you have the hen, maybe try one red lamp and she should do the rest.

 

[nbryan]

Besides it likely being very cold again, another question I have about hatching eggs from my flock is they have freshly started laying and I have heard eggs from young hens are not as desirable as from more mature hens. I am curious if there is any truth to this.
Another challenge is isolating the eggs from the dark cornish and having her incubate only buff eggs. They all share 5 nesting boxes (4 now with the broody hen rooted in one - though other buffs jump in anyway and lay beside her!) so distinguishing the buff eggs from the cornish poses a challenge. The cornish were added to the buff flock a month ago and I haven't seen a roo mount one yet so less likely fertile.
Still chewing on letting her have a go, though. Natural seems best.

 

[LRH97]

I've hatched perfectly fine chicks from my pullets that were under a year old. However, they had been laying for a good six months before my first (a Silkie, go figure!) went broody and hatched a clutch. And yes, natural is by far my favorite way to raise babies.