Do roosters affect broodiness of hens?

[Tony]

I have 3 standard cochin hens,4 orpingtons, an ornigadori, a blue rock and a china game. All of which SHOULD be broody but NONE are, they are all in coops (separated by breed of course) with roosters that are doing their jobs, I have fertile eggs and incubated chicks from all of them. Are the roosters acting as roosters should, preventing them from going broody by "aggravating" them or something? they ALL have a minimum of a dozen of their own eggs in their nest boxes, just waiting to be brood. should I remove the roosters from the cages, so the hens can concentrate better? Ok, "concentrate" is probably not the best word here, but I`m sure you get my point.

Thanks Tony

 

[seminolewind]

Funny, then my roo must be begging them to lay eggs and get comfy. He's in the nest every morning fluffing the shavings and making bokbok noises, and the girls just stand there and watch till he's done

 

[Wolf-Kim]

LOL. I have Black Sexlinks, breeds that aren't suppose to go broody. Well, I had a hen this week decide she WAS going broody and there was nothing or nobody that was going to stop her. The roosters were upset that she wasn't available for loving, and evertime he tries while she's on break, she attacks him. LOL And he's a Black Giant so he has a good bit of size on them. He won't mess with her.

I just think your hens haven't got the itch to be mothers yet. Do they have nice, dark, cozt nestboxes? Everytime my hens have gone broody, it was after they found the darkest most out of the way nook they could, and they've stowed away several eggs. I found that I could "encourage" my hens to go broody by making the nest boxes darker and piling on the golfballs.

I do not think your roosters have any say in the matter, honestly. My broodies are the ones beating up the roos.

-Kim

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have 3 Cochin hens and 4 roos. My 3 hens all went broody one day after the next one did. The roos were a bit peeved that they had to go out and free range during the day without the girls but they managed to. If one of the hens got off the nest to eat or drink the roos gave her a mad chase and she went back to the nest quickly.

I want to say that the problem of hens not going broody, especially Cochins, would be because of being penned up. My hens also prefer their nest boxes to have a top on it and a lip in front.
I have friends that have the other half of our flock that are having the same problem as you are. They have theirs fenced in and can't get them to go broody at all but mine have already gone broody and hatched out their eggs and the hens are having a fun time showing the chicks around the coop each day. We have only had these Cochins for 5 months and they are all under a year old.

 

[sandyjo]

I have a couple of hens who have mastered the art of mothering. We now have more baby chicks than we need. How do we get the hens to stop!!! We need some chicken birth control here. Help!!! They have been on the nest for more than two months.

 

[rooster-red]

Broodiness in a hen has nothing to do with roosters, its a hormonal thing.

When one of my hens goes broody it doesn't matter if there is a clutch for her to sit on or not, she'll sit on air.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I agree with Rooster Red.... I have a black cochin bantam hen who has been broody since the begining of March and never had eggs under her. I tell you what though.... it makes for one heck of a house broken chicken! She refuses to dirty up her kennel and will wait everyday for me to take her out in the yard to do her business then hops back into her "empty nest". I have a hen who raised a clutch of babies but got off the last egg just before it was gonna hatch... poor lil bugger was peeping for over 24 hours before it pipped and i was afraid it would die getting tooo cold after she abandoned it so i took the egg and put it in front of rory the black cochin and she gladly took it in and hatched it altho a bit confused about how "fast " it hatched and a little confused about it peeping as shes gently tucking it under her she sure did her job. The next morning not knowing how she would be with the baby since she didnt get the 21 day bond by sitting on the egg the whole time i put the little one back in with the other hen who was soooo excited to see her little egg had hatched and accepted it along with the others all in which were a staggered hatch. Every one of them is 2 weeks old this week and healthy as horses. My hens also have a nice dark nesting area we made out of an old computer desk with minor modifications. The more secluded they are the safer they feel it is to raise their young