Broody Question

[Grand-hen-ma]

I am sorry to be such a pest here but I am totally confused and need some help.

Ok, my girls lay their eggs and when they do this it seems to spread over the rest and they get in line to lay their eggs too. When there is an egg or a few eggs, several of my girls will sit on the eggs. Sometime they wait in line to do this. Does this mean they are broody? Even though they give me eggs often? I thought broody meant they were old and no longer laid eggs. And my girls are all around 7 to 8 months old. I am totally confused!

Someone mentioned game birds. I looked it up and there was mention of cock fighting birds and hunting birds. I don't have either. Both my Roo's were raised from babies. How can they possibly be game birds????

See, I am totally lost and need some help!!!!

 

[lauralou]

A broody hen isn't an old hen who no longer lays eggs. It is a hen who wants to hatch eggs. Broody behavior is very easy to spot. A hen will sit on the nest night and day. She will puff up and screech at you if you try to touch her. She will generally pluck the feathers out of her chest area for better contact with the eggs. And she will in fact stop laying eggs. But only for a while, because she is in the mode of sitting, not laying.

So it doesn't really sound like you have a bunch of broody hens. It sounds like you have a bunch of hens who prefer the same nestbox. A very common occurrence. It doesn't matter how many nest boxes you have, you will have one that is everybody's favorite, and they will stand in line for it. Silly, but true.

This does bring up the question, how many nest boxes do you have? Maybe you need to add a couple more. One nestbox per 4 hens is recommended. I have more than that. Plenty of nestboxes, but they still have favorites.

The mention of game birds was probably because game hens tend to be broody. But so do other breeds. And then you can get a random broody hen from breeds that aren't known to be broody. I don't think that comment applies to your birds.

 

[Grand-hen-ma]

Thanks, you have been very helpful. I had only 1 nest box, now I have 2. But they only use the one. And I did notice they take turns sitting in the one. When any of them sit on an egg/s I can pet them, except for my black colored hens. They are very skittish anyway and lay white eggs. One of them was sitting on someone elses egg while getting ready herself to lay. I reached in to pet her and she pecked at me until I left her alone.

Thanks again.