Broody hens in the works?

[Eric R]

Are you sure she's actually 'sitting'?
Mark the 7 eggs and check at night to make sure she's there and to remove any extra eggs added. I'll bet there's more than one bird laying there.

Nope she's the only one laying there. I have all different types of hens. She's the only one that lays that color and size. Plus I don't think the others could lay there if they wanted to. The hole she uses to get inside the cab is too small for the other hens. She's the skinniest one I have. My thinking is that she wasn't trying to go broody. That breed, Hamburg, is a nonsetter. I think it's just the number of eggs that did it. I've read that the bunch of eggs eventually creates pressure points that induce broodiness. I know this works because I tried mimicking this with golf balls once. I bought a bucket of used golf balls from Academy and loaded all the laying boxes. I had 5 broodies within a week or so and 2 more the following. One was a white leghorn, another was a welsummer and another was an australarp. I thought they'd never go broody.