Ceramic pot eggs

[jehaz]

Is it true that a pot egg will encourage a hen to lay?

I heard that hens like to lay a certain number of eggs before they sit on them, and so having a pot egg out or leaving their own egg there a bit longer will encourage them to lay more.

Is this true?

Is a golf ball just as good as a pot egg, or not quite as good?
(In regards to encouraging hens to lay, not playing golf)

Clucks in advance, james

 

[Judy]

Fake eggs or golf balls are used by many here to encourage the hen to lay where the fake egg is, not to encourage laying. I doubt very much it encourages laying -- but how would anyone know for sure?

Setting on eggs, or going broody, is another thing altogether. Not all hens will go broody, by any means. Hatchery birds usually do not, although certain breeds are more likely to. Again, I doubt that having eggs in the nest encourages it, but how would you know? One thing is for certain, a determined broody will set on an empty nest for days or weeks.

 

[Old Rando]

I use golf balls in my nests to encourage laying in THOSE nests. Hens can decide where to lay but not to lay. Laying is a biological process, when their body makes an egg they lay it, if it doesn't make an egg it won't lay one. Going broody is also a biological process . If the hen is genetically inclined to go broody her body's hormones change when it tells her to start incubating. As flockwatcher said they will sit on an empty nest when the time comes if so inclined genetically. If they are not genetically inclined they will never go broody regardless of the number of eggs in a nest.