i have 3 hens and a rooster, rhode island reds (2 hens, rooster, about 25 weeks old) and a silkie pullet at 15 weeks i noticed that one RIR hen always go broody (even if theres no egg!) : , about four times now. but the other just keeps on laying and laying. why is she like that? its very hard to break that habit. what can i do to just keep her laying and not to brood? and i know that will deal with the same problem to my silkie when she grows up. is there a way or a routine to keep them from brooding? and if theres none, is there a routine to stop that? i mean like when they're laying eggs everyday and i notice that they're getting broody (in the first day for example), wht should i do to stop that and to keep them from stopping laying eggs? i hope that there are solutions for this. thanks for you replies.
Broodiness is determined by hormones which in turn are determined by genetics. If you don't want any of them to go broody, you would be better off with breeds that are less likely to go broody. Commercial operations try to breed broodiness out of their lines. Henderson's is a good source of information on breeds which are less likely to go broody. And Silkies are one of the broodiest breeds. There are a number of ways to (try to) break a broody. Probably the classic one is to put her in a wire cage with air circulating under her and no nesting material. Give food and water, of course. It may take several days of this -- or she may not give up.
