I read an article in BYPoultry about forcing broodiness in a hen by enclosing her in a little box on top of some eggs/golfballs, then covering the box in black fabric. I tried this yesterday, and my hen was already broody by this morning. She already seemed interested in brooding, and I wanted her to get going with the whole business. She's an EE sitting on 5 of her own eggs, and 2 teeny little d'uccle eggs. woohoo!
How interesting, Ihave never heard about doing that. How did you know she was "interested"? Keep us updated about how it goes.
Whole corn also helps. Processing corn gives off heat, (great as a suppliment on them bitter cold days before roost), therefore causing the hen to get a "fever" such as the one they get when they go broody....glad your experiment worked out for you...lets see some baby pics in a couple of weeks...
LOL I did this with success and I didn't even read the article. I had people think I was crazy when I would suggest it, but it's always worked for me. -Kim
Well-- here's an update... She pooped out on the broodiness. I checked on her in the morning, and she wasn't even on the eggs. She was standing next to them and they were all cold. Oh well. I guess that's why they say to put the hen on fake eggs first, but I don't have any. She seemed broody because she enjoyed sitting on the nest, and whenever another hen ventured near, she freaked out and "screamed" at them. My other hen did the exact same thing when she went broody. Usually they just sit there.