Broody Hen & Flock's Egg Production

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

Hello, fellow chicken lovers! I would like to know if one broody hen can impact flock egg production? I have six hens who would lay 5-6 eggs daily. One went broody, and my collections dropped to 2-3 a day. I removed the broody hen last weekend, broke ger brood, and put her back in the flock 4 days ago. I know she won't lay yet, but the rest of the girls haven't returned to regular laying. They are in an enclosed yard, so they aren't hiding eggs. Any thoughts, please? I'm about to have to go buy store eggs. Thanks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Technically any sort of stressor or change can possibly affect egg laying, so the broody may have disrupted things enough that some of the birds went off lay.

I do find that broodiness is somewhat infectious, so if one of my birds goes broody, another one will soon after, which means 2 birds will be off laying one after another.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would sit out there with them, they can be clever hiding them

 

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

Technically any sort of stressor or change can possibly affect egg laying, so the broody may have disrupted things enough that some of the birds went off lay.

I do find that broodiness is somewhat infectious, so if one of my birds goes broody, another one will soon after, which means 2 birds will be off laying one after another.

Thank you. I thought that might be the case. I wasn't expecting any to go broody since they're fairly young, so I wasn't really prepared. She stayed in the flock for a while before I could separate her. She very well could have thrown off the egg lay. I'm better prepared for next time.

 

[The Lazy Farm Girl]

I would sit out there with them, they can be clever hiding them

Thank you. Only place they could hide is under the coop, and we check daily. We have found eggs under there before.