Can hearing a rooster crowing make hens go broody? Even if it's on TV?

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

Ok, I might have forced my virgin Buff Orpington into going broody.

Is it possible that the sound of a rooster crowing on TV could cause my virgin (as in no sex or any experience with a rooster) to go Broody?

I like to wake up very early before kids and pets can start making demands on me. I make a cup of coffee and and put the TV on very low on my favorite YouTube channels while I take my blood pressure. I did this for two weeks and recorded my results and the doctor said my readings were so good I could stop taking my blood pressure medicine.

It used to be Monty Don's Garden, but lately I have a new favorite, Country Life Vlog, a half hour of nature sounds and very little talk (and when there is it's in Azerbaijani) about a family doing old fashioned things around their farm. It's filled with the sounds of cows mooing, brooks babbling and yes, rooster's crowing. It's very soothing.

Since it's very hot here, this is the time of day when I open my windows and let the fresh air in. Well, about 3 days ago my Buff stopped eating, and I thought she had changed her egg color, because I would pull dark brown or green eggs out from under her. Then I realized there were no Buff colored eggs. She had stopped laying eggs and was sitting on everyone else's. She seems so depressed! I tell her gently that she can't become a mother until she's "been with" a boy...

In the morning when I remove the coop floor for cleaning I push her out and she will eat and and drink a little, and maybe scratch around a little. But then she goes right back to the nest and stays there all day. The one she likes is one of the two favorites. The others seem a little confused and alarmed by what she is doing. She won't even come down for treats like watermelon or cherry tomatoes in ice water. I worry about her in the heat, so I usually put a small bowl of ice water near her. I have to give them ice water around noon every day when the temp is between 90 and 102.

Any advice?

 

[sourland]

No. The presence or absence of a rooster has nothing to do with a hen going broody. Remove her from the nest site in a cage until her broodiness breaks or she will continue to monopolize her chosen nest site.

 

[Evadig]

Is it possible that the sound of a rooster crowing on TV could cause my virgin (as in no sex or any experience with a rooster) to go Broody?

No, that wouldn’t cause broodiness .

Buff Orpingtons in general are prone to going broody. Picking up the eggs every day should help with that, as well as moving her off the nest like @ sourland said.

 

[nuthatched]

A rooster does not:

Make a hen lay eggs.
Make a hen lay more eggs
Make a hen broody.
All these are a matter of hormones, kind of like a woman never needs to even see a man to ovulate

A rooster does:
Make the eggs fertile. That's all.

If someone told you that a rooster is needed for eggs or broodiness, laugh in their face and discount anything they say about chickens because they are clueless about basic biology.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Well, I will say that seeing George Clooney or Denzel Washington on TV might stir up my hormones a bit, at age 70.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Well, I will say that seeing George Clooney or Denzel Washington on TV might stir up my hormones a bit, at age 70.

You and me both, and perhaps a side of Matt Damon or Brad Pitt

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ya I don't think that makes a difference.
I have dozens of roosters that crow all day long and oh so many hens and I get about one or maybe two go broody per year.

 

[Ponypoor]

A rooster does not:

Make a hen lay eggs.
Make a hen lay more eggs
Make a hen broody.
All these are a matter of hormones, kind of like a woman never needs to even see a man to ovulate

A rooster does:
Make the eggs fertile. That's all.

If someone told you that a rooster is needed for eggs or broodiness, laugh in their face and discount anything they say about chickens because they are clueless about basic biology.

Yes - eggsactly!

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok, I might have forced my virgin Buff Orpington into going broody.

Is it possible that the sound of a rooster crowing on TV could cause my virgin (as in no sex or any experience with a rooster) to go Broody?

I like to wake up very early before kids and pets can start making demands on me. I make a cup of coffee and and put the TV on very low on my favorite YouTube channels while I take my blood pressure. I did this for two weeks and recorded my results and the doctor said my readings were so good I could stop taking my blood pressure medicine.

It used to be Monty Don's Garden, but lately I have a new favorite, Country Life Vlog, a half hour of nature sounds and very little talk (and when there is it's in Azerbaijani) about a family doing old fashioned things around their farm. It's filled with the sounds of cows mooing, brooks babbling and yes, rooster's crowing. It's very soothing.

Since it's very hot here, this is the time of day when I open my windows and let the fresh air in. Well, about 3 days ago my Buff stopped eating, and I thought she had changed her egg color, because I would pull dark brown or green eggs out from under her. Then I realized there were no Buff colored eggs. She had stopped laying eggs and was sitting on everyone else's. She seems so depressed! I tell her gently that she can't become a mother until she's "been with" a boy...

In the morning when I remove the coop floor for cleaning I push her out and she will eat and and drink a little, and maybe scratch around a little. But then she goes right back to the nest and stays there all day. The one she likes is one of the two favorites. The others seem a little confused and alarmed by what she is doing. She won't even come down for treats like watermelon or cherry tomatoes in ice water. I worry about her in the heat, so I usually put a small bowl of ice water near her. I have to give them ice water around noon every day when the temp is between 90 and 102.

Any advice?

If you don’t want broody hens then get breeds like Leghorns or hybrids like sex-links that are not prone to being broody.

Do not get Silkies (ugh enough said), Marans, Cochins, Orpingtons, Sussex’s, or any other heritage breed. Those are nothing but broody trouble.

Keep hailing her fluffy butt off the nest a few times a day to eat, drink, poop and generally scream at everyone until she runs back to her spot. Remove all the eggs, even the fake ones (not that this stops my ding bats).

On the up side if you want to increase your flock size you can get some day old chicks and foster them onto the broody so she raises them. But that’s a tale for another thread.

Have fun!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Kind of a funny coincidence but just a coincidence nonetheless. I never had a rooster and my Speckled Sussex raised lots of chicks for me…all from other chickens’ eggs.