Broody hen, will she continue as she gets older?

[wleigh1021]

I have a hen going on 3 years old. She consistently goes broody about 3x a season and I'm just curious, will she always continue to go broody or will that lesson as her egg production drops off? She is a Basque hen. I am letting her sit on eggs for the first time . She did adopt 5 week old chicks once which was really funny since she refused to adopt them when they were younger.

 

[Shadrach]

I have a hen going on 3 years old. She consistently goes broody about 3x a season and I'm just curious, will she always continue to go broody or will that lesson as her egg production drops off? She is a Basque hen. I am letting her sit on eggs for the first time . She did adopt 5 week old chicks once which was really funny since she refused to adopt them when they were younger.

The serial broodies I have here have tended to go broody every year, sometimes two or three times a year. I've found that these older serial broodies make the best mothers, especially given they've usually risen through the hierarchy over the years; think 7 to 9 year olds.
There are major advantages to having your senior hens sit, hatch and raise chicks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It depends on the hen. Normally hens tend to go broody more as they mature but I've had plenty of pullets set.
Once I had 10 pullets in a building that had just started laying and 8 of them went broody together.

 

[wleigh1021]

Cool! Hopefully she'll do well and she continue to do all the work for me as years go on. Only downside is that she refuses to let me move her nest or give her a box. At least I got a nesting pad under her