How do I tell if my chickens are brooding and what should I do about it. I have 1 sex link and 3 rhode lslands. Egg production was one a day per bird now it's only one egg a day total.
A broody hen is a hen that remains on the nest 24/7 and does her very best to convince you that you are about to die if you so much as look her direction, never mind reach for her. She will be all puffed up on the nest and if you do take her off she will fuss, fuss, fuss and do everything she can to get right back on it again. Her sole mission in life when she is broody is to stay on that nest and hatch babies (even if there are no eggs-or no rooster to have fertilized any eggs). All that being said, there are many reasons for a drop in production that are not related to being broody. How old are your birds? Where are you located? How long have they been laying? Have there been any changes in the last 3-4 weeks (new birds, birds left the flock, change in feed, change in routine, etc)
He's right the drive to reproduce the species is stronger than anything in nature. If you don't want to hatch chicks, like getting fertile eggs somewhere if not your own, then making them uncomfortable in a wire dog crate is suppose to make them give up. Your choice if you want your own hatches to lay eggs or buy more chickens for replacements when things go south and they will. Just losing egg production is not the whole equation. Cheers.
