Broody question....

[1 acre willows]

If I had a hen trying to go broody, I would've let her under normal circumstances just not going to be around enough this summer to keep chicks.... sad day I know..... but will her going broody cause others to go broody as well? She's one of the more alpha hens in the group. I've had 2 or 3 other hens start acting like they were playing king of the nesting box, sitting in it all day and not getting out, trying to roll eggs back up the roll away boxes to have under them. Broke said broody with the chicken jail method, and all of the odd behaviors have stopped.... Any ideas of what is going on? Also had 3 leathery eggs in the last week, one was from a hen that's 7ish years old so not too concerned about that. One was laid while I was in the coop at night and she was roosted up for the night, the third we found not sure when it was laid.

 

[Cellomama2]

I had one broody, then two. Broke one and gave the other some eggs to hatch. All was well for a bout week and a half. Now my loony silkie has gotten four others trying to sit with her and I don't have enough jails . So from my experience yes, they will follow suit unless maybe its not in their breed to do so.
Don't know about the leathery egg thing. Need more calcium maybe?

 

[1 acre willows]

I don't have any bantams.... I should've said that all of my layers are mutts.

 

[LCcreekside]

If I had a hen trying to go broody, I would've let her under normal circumstances just not going to be around enough this summer to keep chicks.... sad day I know..... but will her going broody cause others to go broody as well? She's one of the more alpha hens in the group. I've had 2 or 3 other hens start acting like they were playing king of the nesting box, sitting in it all day and not getting out, trying to roll eggs back up the roll away boxes to have under them. Broke said broody with the chicken jail method, and all of the odd behaviors have stopped.... Any ideas of what is going on? Also had 3 leathery eggs in the last week, one was from a hen that's 7ish years old so not too concerned about that. One was laid while I was in the coop at night and she was roosted up for the night, the third we found not sure when it was laid.

We had a pen with three hens and one rooster. The single 12x14 inch base nest box was about 4-1/2 feet off the ground. One hen went broody so we decided to see what would happen. The others started laying on the ground but about a week later all 3 were broody in the same next box! We pulled the whole nest box with the original broody hen to its own pen out of sight of the first 2, setting it close to the ground and giving the other 2 a new nest box in the original location. They started laying again less than 2 weeks later and have not gone broody again. Maybe they were afraid that if they went broody again they would disappear like their former pen-mate!

 

[1 acre willows]

They have all the oyster shell they could want and they get all the layer feed with some meat bird mixed in for the protein. Damn near a 50/50 mix .... thinking these poor girls are in a months long molt not a quick one. Nothing for mites that I can find on them. And I have sprayed and dusted the coop.

 

[1 acre willows]

Said broody has gone broody 3 times in less than a year, pretty good mama bird too, just can be here to keep an eye on her and the chicks.... I keep close tabs on her, am very happy to have a very broody bird and she's only about a year old. She don't take no flak from no hen or rooster.

 

[Cellomama2]

I don't have any bantams.... I should've said that all of my layers are mutts.

I don't think it matters which one starts the broodiness because the ones that are broody now from the silkie are standard size barred rock/swedish flower crosses and one is pure evil trying to rip my hand off.

 

[LCcreekside]

We had another pen with two hens and a rooster. One went broody on 6 or so eggs and the other kept laying eggs in with the first. The second went broody in the same box with the first after about a week. We just left them to see what would happen. When the first two chicks hatched, they abandoned the other eggs to look after the 2 chicks. On day one of the hatch, we pulled the second broody hen to another pen and put the chicks in a small brooder box. The first hen went back to setting and each time a chick hatched we pulled it to the brooder. There has been over a week pass between the first and last chick with 2 eggs left and a brooder full of chicks! It's been an interesting experiment!

 

[1 acre willows]

We had another pen with two hens and a rooster. One went broody on 6 or so eggs and the other kept laying eggs in with the first. The second went broody in the same box with the first after about a week. We just left them to see what would happen. When the first two chicks hatched, they abandoned the other eggs to look after the 2 chicks. On day one of the hatch, we pulled the second broody hen to another pen and put the chicks in a small brooder box. The first hen went back to setting and each time a chick hatched we pulled it to the brooder. There has been over a week pass between the first and last chick with 2 eggs left and a brooder full of chicks! It's been an interesting experiment!

Said broody put up with us planting 6 few days old chicks with the 4 she hatched and raising them, all doing well still... had a dog attack last summer, she lived through it I found her tangled up in some weeds. She lived had a limp for a couple weeks. Been a stellar chick-a-hen....