Broody hens and egg laying

[yotetrapper]

Ok so I have three breeding pens set up. The first one, has EEs and no one there is broody, so production is normal.

But here's where I get confused. In my wyandotte pen, my one hen thinks she is broody, so she's not laying. But the other hen stopped too!

In my buff orp pen, one of my hens is broody and on about day 6 with eggs. But all of my other buff orps hens stopped laying as well! why???

Does one hen being broody somehow stop the other hens from laying?? What am I missing here??

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Uh, are you sure they aren't laying their eggs in with the broody hen's eggs? That happens quite a bit. They should still be laying. Maybe you should check under the hens to see if they have a jillion eggs under there.

 

[yotetrapper]

I dont think so, but I'll check. That hen is sooooo mean I'm almost scared to check LOL.I couldnt imagine another hen getting her to move LOL. It's weird, because half usually laid in one spot, and half in another. The broody's in one of those spots, but there's no eggs in the other spot. I got an egg the day before yesterday, but none at all yesterday. I know they're not laying at all in the wyandotte pen because that hen doesn't have any eggs under her, I checked yesterday.

 

[bargain]

Here's what happened to me....One speckled sussex went broody on one egg..exactly 24 edays away..took it away and checked eggs 6 times a day for 3 days, no eggs and broody...
Soo i put Easter eggers under her - 8 (6 just hatched and there are 2 remaining,
Then I week later the nest next to her - another broody Speckled Sussex, I tried to break the broodey, but no luck...so I gave her her clutch off EE ....this way I would know which are hers vs the sussex eggs.Well another broody mother is on top of this broody waiting for the broody mother to go for food and sit on the eggs I guess they are co parenting!!! smile

After she went broody, another sits on top of her waiting to sit on the nest as well....So we went from 1 to 3 broodies! Crazy..... I think I'll give the third one some guineas so I have so many of them.