Any way to promote broodyness?

[aart]

I have 13 chickens..8 nesting boxes...they used to use the two end ones only..now they only use one...is this typical?

Yep....why I leave a fakie in all 4 nests.
Tho there are still favorites(which can change daily) they use all the nests.

I have ceramic eggs in my nest boxes to encourage them to lay where I want them to lay. Being the strong independent women they are, they lay in the opposite corners of the coop and kick the fakes around like soccer balls.

Might need more enclosed nests with high fronts?

I wouldn't leave actual eggs, that's just a waste of perfectly good eggs. If a hen is going to go broody, fake eggs will do just fine, you can swap out fakes for real eggs later on. BOs are a more broody breed, so you might have some luck with one of those.

I'd wait until after winter before I'd consider hatching though.

Tho leaving a pile of eggs might prompt broodiness, it's more about hormones....they are either going to go broody, or not.
Yes, wait until spring...cause don't you already have 'too many' birds?

 

[sourland]

Your most probable candidates for broodiness are the Buff Orpingtons and the EE. The other birds rarely go broody. It's all about the hormones and the genetic make up of the birds involved.

 

[Zach123]

Might need more enclosed nests with high fronts?

Nah, laying in the coop is good enough for me. Better than the Easter egg hunt I used to have to go on when they would lay pretty much everywhere. I still stumble across old nests under bushes, tractor implements, piles of wood etc. with a couple dozen eggs in them that I have to pick up and throw away from when they used to free range. (They lost their freedom when I came home to piles of feathers and missing birds four times in one week). If the corner of the coop is where they want to lay, I can live with that. It’s also a nice big walk in coop so even if they aren’t in the nest box, they are still within easy reach.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have ceramic eggs in my nest boxes to encourage them to lay where I want them to lay. Being the strong independent women they are, they lay in the opposite corners of the coop and kick the fakes around like soccer balls.

Mine punt the golf balls around sometimes and even knock them over the lip of the box but I just put them back in. It's all part of their exploration of nest boxes (since I'm sure some of them have forgotten what the boxes are for, they haven't laid in so long!)

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Yep....why I leave a fakie in all 4 nests.
Tho there are still favorites(which can change daily) they use all the nests.

Might need more enclosed nests with high fronts?

Tho leaving a pile of eggs might prompt broodiness, it's more about hormones....they are either going to go broody, or not.
Yes, wait until spring...cause don't you already have 'too many' birds?

I have too many ducks...a decent amount of chickens..but if they went broody... I wouldn’t have to decide what kind to buy and I’d have an awesome mixture of cross breed! But, you’re right..spring is best so we can build, yet another coop!! . Or, by then, will my two pullets FINALLY be old enough to join the rest?! And of course our best 1 or 2 cockerels?

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Yep....why I leave a fakie in all 4 nests.
Tho there are still favorites(which can change daily) they use all the nests.

Might need more enclosed nests with high fronts?

Tho leaving a pile of eggs might prompt broodiness, it's more about hormones....they are either going to go broody, or not.
Yes, wait until spring...cause don't you already have 'too many' birds?

Anyways I sold 6 mallard drakes today to a man in my area with a passion for mallard drakes. It was very hard to say goodbye but he has promised to send me pictures, and I have his phone number. So, I am satisfied with my duck number now...and so is my husband