I believe it might and I mismanage my hens accordingly.
If I have a broody hen I don't want to sit and hatch I let her sit until her egg laying cycle switches off and then deal with the broodiness.
For broody hens I want to hatch chicks I just let them get on with it.
I read a lot of comments about hens getting weak and out of condition by being broody. It's not what I've found. It's a matter of making sure they get properly fed when they take a break to bather, eat, drink and poop. Most want to eat a little and head off for a dust bath. It's after they've done the bathing, pooping and running around telling the other hens what a wonderfull clutch of eggs they got that I've found they eat again on the way back to the nest given the opportunity. A hen that's sat for three days isn't likely to lose any condition and she'll get a two to three week break from egg laying. Many of the hens I can think of went broody twice a year.
I agree that a broody hen that hatches chicks tend to lose weight but not due to the sitting but due to the chicks care. A hen that's sat for three days isn't likely to lose any condition and she'll get a two to three week break from egg laying. Many of the hens I can think of went broody twice a year.That could be six weeks of not laying, say 36 eggs.
While they are not laying eggs a third or more of their daily nutrients aren't being used to make eggs and judging by some of the broody poops I've seen (I've even weighed a few) a days poop more or less in one go ranges from 40 grams to 70 grams in weight. Granted dry weight in is not directly proportional to wet weight out due to the water, but you can't push out at one end what didn't go in at the other.
Teaching chicks and giving them just about everything found, plus the hyper alertness, plus the increase in physical activity foraging for the chicks is hard graft.
But, my experience with this has been with free range chickens on acres so as always the keeping conditions are likely to have a major influence.
Will they live longer because of it?
It's almost impossible to prove.
My view and probably a minority view is there isn't anything more natural than hens going broody. In my view it's something to be encouraged. Having a rooster in the tribe is also somethng I feel is important and rooster and hens usually means chicks and that's something else I feel should be encouraged. The basis of what few improvements to the average chickens life in all the government guidlines in recent years has been about allowing the chickens to carry out it's natural behaviour. I don't know where the people who make these recommendations were brought educated but furthering ones genes is about as natural as it gets.
Yup, you may end up with lots of chickens and people deal with this in different ways. Eating them is fine in my view.
If I have a broody hen I don't want to sit and hatch I let her sit until her egg laying cycle switches off and then deal with the broodiness.
For broody hens I want to hatch chicks I just let them get on with it.
I read a lot of comments about hens getting weak and out of condition by being broody. It's not what I've found. It's a matter of making sure they get properly fed when they take a break to bather, eat, drink and poop. Most want to eat a little and head off for a dust bath. It's after they've done the bathing, pooping and running around telling the other hens what a wonderfull clutch of eggs they got that I've found they eat again on the way back to the nest given the opportunity. A hen that's sat for three days isn't likely to lose any condition and she'll get a two to three week break from egg laying. Many of the hens I can think of went broody twice a year.
I agree that a broody hen that hatches chicks tend to lose weight but not due to the sitting but due to the chicks care. A hen that's sat for three days isn't likely to lose any condition and she'll get a two to three week break from egg laying. Many of the hens I can think of went broody twice a year.That could be six weeks of not laying, say 36 eggs.
While they are not laying eggs a third or more of their daily nutrients aren't being used to make eggs and judging by some of the broody poops I've seen (I've even weighed a few) a days poop more or less in one go ranges from 40 grams to 70 grams in weight. Granted dry weight in is not directly proportional to wet weight out due to the water, but you can't push out at one end what didn't go in at the other.
Teaching chicks and giving them just about everything found, plus the hyper alertness, plus the increase in physical activity foraging for the chicks is hard graft.
But, my experience with this has been with free range chickens on acres so as always the keeping conditions are likely to have a major influence.
Will they live longer because of it?
It's almost impossible to prove.My view and probably a minority view is there isn't anything more natural than hens going broody. In my view it's something to be encouraged. Having a rooster in the tribe is also somethng I feel is important and rooster and hens usually means chicks and that's something else I feel should be encouraged. The basis of what few improvements to the average chickens life in all the government guidlines in recent years has been about allowing the chickens to carry out it's natural behaviour. I don't know where the people who make these recommendations were brought educated but furthering ones genes is about as natural as it gets.
Yup, you may end up with lots of chickens and people deal with this in different ways. Eating them is fine in my view.
Last edited:
