Broody girls?

sbillmyer

Chirping
Jan 14, 2021
11
14
64
Our hens are a variety of breeds. Their ages range from 2 months to 8 years. Over the 8 years we have had chickens, we have had only a handful of broody hens out over thirty hens we have had over the years. We got a few last July so they are a little over 8 months old. One of them, a Silkie, was broody last month and had to go to broody jail for about a week to break her broodiness, and a recently our 8 moth old Sebright girl is now in jail for being broody. She is really not happy with being in jail. She is as stubborn of a hen we have had. Adorable, but stubborn. We are were also getting quite a few eggs from these girls since I am thinking their eggs are smaller then the bigger hens and one of the smaller eggs is a little bit pinkier than the other. I thought Sebrights and Silkies were not know as layers. So my questions regarding our hens is are they layers and more prone to being broody? We have had Barred Rocks, Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons, Wyandottes, etc. and from what I remember it was only a Wyandotte that was broody in the past years. BTW: I am so grateful for the knowledge everyone on this site and the willingness to help a fellow chicken owner out with questions. :bow
 
Some breeds are more broody prone than others. Wyandottes, Orpingtons, and Silkies are broody breeds. But any hen may go broody if it's in her genes. She normally needs to be laying, but I have a Wyandotte hen who hasn't laid in years who goes partially broody after being exposed to baby chicks for a few weeks. Once her hormones click in, she takes over the rearing of the chicks for me.

If you're trying to break a broody, you need to keep her in a cage with an open mesh bottom. If she is left in a pen, she can roost on a perch or hunker on the ground and these reflect her body heat back at her and that perpetuates her broody hormones. She needs cool air circulating under her to cool down her body temperature so the hormones will also cool off.
 

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