Broodiness???

[barred rock'er]

Hey, I was just wondering how you get a hen to go broody? dod they just decide on their own or are there ways to entice them to take this action?
I have 3 br hens that I thought might go broody but havent. If I want them to go broody should I stop collecting eggs?
Thanks
Matt

 

[Ericasl]

Hi, well some people say no way no how you cannot make a hen broody(it is a hormone thing) some say leave a bunch of eggs in the nest and they will go broody. Well I wanted a broody really bad but, I was afraid to leave a bunch of eggs in the nest, what if one got broke and my hens turned in to a bunch of egg eaters. So I bought some really nice wooden eggs and thought I would trick my hens broody:. N

o such luck I had those 12 fake eggs in that nest for two months and all they did was kick them out of the nest. I even went and bought 4 silkie hens to get a broodyI have had then over a month they still are not broody. And two days after getting the silkies one of my girls went broody I bought eggs off of E-bay and two days before I got them one of my other hens went broody. NOT a silkie. So know I have two broody hens both sitting on 7 eggs. So now I think you cannot trick a hen I think they do it when they want. Some breeds tend to brood more than others. That is just what happened to me. Good luck.

 

[Chirpy]

They go broody when their bodies tell them to. You cannot make a hen go broody and it's hard to stop her from being broody if don't want her to be. (Although there are some tricks that may work to stop a hen from being broody.)

 

[speckledhen]

Barred Rocks are not that broody, in general, especially hatchery BRs. Today's hatchery birds are bred for egglaying and not broodiness. When a hen goes broody, she quits laying, as you know, the main reason most people want chickens.

 

[HillCountryMomma]

Someone needs to tell my barred rock she's not supposed to be broody! She's on day 18 of sitting on 17!!! eggs. She's a mean broody too... bit my hand when I was pulling eggs out a couple days ago to candle them.

Have a jersey black giant that is broody as well, have Rio Grande turkey eggs and Ameraucana eggs under her (staggered).

In my experience you can't make a hen go broody, and it's darn hard to convince them to not be broody when they decide it's time. I really didn't need broody hens right now, but the girls weren't listening to logic. Or begging. Or bribery. So... I caved.

At least with my barred rock/RIR cross I'll be able to sex them right away and can sell the pullets if I want.

Liz