Broody hen laying but two other hens not?

[KaylaC]

It’s summer time here when egg production should be higher. I have a mama hen and a rooster and their two baby hens (all bantams) that just started their first laying season this year. They have been laying eggs like crazy all spring. A couple weeks ago my mama hen started showing signs of going broody. She sits on her nest 24/7 only to get up to eat and drink and back to the nest. The only thing is she is still laying an egg a day everyday and she is not plucking out any chest feathers. The other two hens were laying their eggs in their moms nest, even though there are a total of five nests in this coop. One hen thought about brooding next to mom and then decided not to. Then one day I found one egg that was apparently laid on the ground and after that my two hens have seemed to stop laying altogether. I’ve been looking around the yard to see if they have been laying any old place while they are free ranging but I haven’t found anything.

So now I’ve been taking mama hen out of the nest everyday to force her to poop and eat and drink. She will scratch with the others for a second and then right back to the nest. This morning I blocked off the coop after everyone was done eating and drinking and mama hen is just frantically going back and forth around the coop trying to get back in and I feel bad for her so I let her back in when the others went back to the coop and in hopes that my two other hens will go in and lay. I put fresh nesting down for them yesterday to see if a shiny new nest might entice them. I don’t have any golf or ping pong balls.

My boyfriend was saying he didn’t want to have chicks this year because he is worried about inbreeding if we hatched the roosters children’s eggs. Maybe I could just mark the moms eggs when I know it’s hers and just let her sit? Either that or should I try to break her from brooding, even if she’s still laying? I’m not sure if I want chicks right now. I’m very new to all this, first year owning chickens.

Anyways, thanks for reading my lengthy post but I just wanted to give all the details. Long story short, Why are my other two hens not laying but my broody one is? A mystery to me thus far.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello KaylaC.
Welcome to BYC.
Usually a properly broody hen will stop laying eggs after 2 or 3 days of sitting.
You may find your other hens are laying the eggs you think your broody is laying.

 

[Chickassan]

For future reference inbreeding is fairly common with chickens, really isn't a big deal unless people make it one or it continues on for many generations.
You wouldn't hatch mutants or anything.

 

[KaylaC]

Hello KaylaC.
Welcome to BYC.
Usually a properly broody hen will stop laying eggs after 2 or 3 days of sitting.
You may find your other hens are laying the eggs you think your broody is laying.

I literally just thought of that as I was re-reading this post over. She’s probably taking one of the other hens egg and sitting on it! I got confused because I went from 3-5 eggs a day down to now one! So someone else must not be laying either.

 

[KaylaC]

For future reference inbreeding is fairly common with chickens, really isn't a big deal unless people make it one or it continues on for many generations.
You wouldn't hatch mutants or anything.

Ok thanks! That’s really good to know lol well now that I know the mama probably isn’t laying any of her own eggs, I wonder if I should let her sit? She’s been super adamant about it, I’m going to be resorting to bags of ice and broody cages soon and I really don’t want to have to do that.

 

[Shadrach]

I literally just thought of that as I was re-reading this post over. She’s probably taking one of the other hens egg and sitting on it! I got confused because I went from 3-5 eggs a day down to now one! So someone else must not be laying either.

You might also consider that hens tend to favour the nest box the other hens favour. If that nest box is occupied by a broody hen who generally in my experience can be pretty unpleasant characters, one or both of you other hens may be laying elsewhere; somewhere in the yard perhaps.

 

[aart]

She’s been super adamant about it, I’m going to be resorting to bags of ice and broody cages soon and I really don’t want to have to do that.

Either let her set or break her.
If you let her, start saving eggs on the counter until you get as many as she can cover. Mark the eggs you want to hatch and put them under her all at the same time, then remove any unmarked eggs daily.

 

[KaylaC]

Either let her set or break her.
If you let her, start saving eggs on the counter until you get as many as she can cover. Mark the eggs you want to hatch and put them under her all at the same time, then remove any unmarked eggs daily.

Ok great! Thanks so much for the tips! This is extremely helpful.

 

[KaylaC]

You might also consider that hens tend to favour the nest box the other hens favour. If that nest box is occupied by a broody hen who generally in my experience can be pretty unpleasant characters, one or both of you other hens may be laying elsewhere; somewhere in the yard perhaps.

Ok thanks for clarifying that Shadrach! I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled!