broodyiness

[jennjune26]

hello
we have 5 buff orpingtons. They are only a year old and our first chickens. one is broody . it has been about two weeks.
we don't have a rooster. she is so angry if I even speak to her that I am scared to go near her. Question is ....do broody hens
who are not actually incubating a fertilized egg STILL lay eggs?????

Also, we separated her because she was fighting off other chickens. Now we only get one egg a day from the other four chickens. the only reason i can think of is stress because of our broody chikden being so mean. any ideas on why our others haven't been laying? we separated our broody girl about a week ago and no improvement in our number of eggs

 

[bobbi-j]

If your hen is sitting on infertile eggs, your best bet is to remove them from the nest and try to break her broodiness. Not fun, I know, but what good is it doing to let her sit? Wear gloves and long sleeves - thick ones if you need to, take the eggs and remove her from the nest. Block off access to the nest. She won't be happy, but she'll eventually get over it. If you wanted her to raise a clutch of chicks, you could see of your local farm supply place still has babies and get a few to slip under her at night. I'd wait until close to the 21 days is up to do that. She will not lay eggs as long as she's broody. She has no idea that those eggs will never hatch. In my experience, my mama hens usually don't start laying again until their chicks are 3-4 months old. Could be your other hens are a little stressed at the change from you moving the broody hen. Chickens don't accept change well.