How can I make my hens go broody??!

[Molpet]

buying and incubator will cause her to go broody.. like washing the car and it rains in a drought

 

[HattieScratchy]

My silkies are actually really good layers when they aren't broody. About 5 eggs a week each. Between being young, the short cold months and moving to a new environment it's probably thrown her out of wack. Give her some time, she'll cone around.

Also, if she went broody before you got her and she was "kicked off the nest" ( like, if moving to your place interrupted her) then it could still be quite a few weeks before she lays. I have a hen that can break cycle and start laying 2 weeks later. I have a hen that just stated laying last week again after hatching eggs back in nov. Each hen is different. I know it's hard to be patient, but it sounds like shes showing signs that she may start laying again soon.

 

[Peter.J]

I was curious about this topic too. We have the room to start having a self propagating flock so I was hoping for a broody hen soon; BUT we just switched over to a group style roll away nest box (cleaner eggs, easy collecting) so i wonder if this is discouraging broodiness... I’m debating on just putting a single old style egg box in the coop and see if any hens take to it. Would be nice to have some chics in the coop, and this is probably the right time of year to do this... I’ll keep on this thread to see if anybody has any tricks. Its ironic because before I always had the hardest time breaking broody hens and now i can’t get one (out of 24 hens!)...

 

[Ashley McDaniel]

She's on a good diet. I also give her oyster shells from time to time, along with some fruit. I also give all of my chickens scrambled eggs twice a week. Plus they free range all day. She's still young, just over a year old. My friend said that she had just started laying a month before I got her. So, I'm pretty sure the move, along with the short daylight hours of winter are the cause. Since adding the solar lights, she has built a nest, so I'm hopeful, and pretty sure she's headed in the right direction, to laying eggs that is lol

 

[Ashley McDaniel]

buying and incubator will cause her to go broody.. like washing the car and it rains in a drought

This is so true! Lol

 

[Ashley McDaniel]

Also, I recently acquired 2 Cochin Hens, they are a little under a year. At what age do they start laying? I'm sure the stress from their recent move to my house will cause some delay, but was just curious as I purchased some Cochin chicks as well....

 

[Farmgal101]

Hello everyone, I purchased a trio of 1 year old Silkies from a friend who could no longer keep them about 4 months ago. 1 hen, 2 Roo's. "FeeFee" has yet to lay an egg since she's been here. My friend said that she had just started laying only 1 egg per every 2 weeks. I know that Silkies are not the greatest at egg production, but I'm getting a little worried. I've put golf balls and even real eggs in her nesting box. The other day I watched her build a nest for the first time, I was excited and hopeful. However, that was it. She never sat in the best, and now the straw is just scattered around. Is this normal behavior? Is there anything else I can do to encourage egg laying? Or help make her go broody? Even if she doesn't go broody, if she would at least lay, I could hatch some Barbie Silkies, which is my plan. Any ideas, suggestions, advice, tips or experience would be greatly appreciated. Also, I've included a pic of Edward, Emmit, and FeeFee View attachment 1288530

she may be to young....But i left alot of eggs in my coop like 20 or more and they started laying on them i knew not all of them would hatch bc they would be old and the new ones would so after they hatched one by one i threw away the ones that didnt after 24 days.

 

[Ashley McDaniel]

she may be to young....But i left alot of eggs in my coop like 20 or more and they started laying on them i knew not all of them would hatch bc they would be old and the new ones would so after they hatched one by one i threw away the ones that didnt after 24 days.

This is a good idea, thank you!

 

[RWise]

You cant force them, but each day when I take out the eggs, if I want one to be broody, I replace them with golf balls. I keep the eggs I wish them to set on in an egg turner inside at room temp. If/when a hen sets on the balls I then at night change them out for the eggs. But I get a better hatch rate and survival rate using the incubator,,,cept for one hen, she got 100%!

 

[Embden Geese]

You can encourage her but cant make her go broody. You could try putting rubber eggs in her nest box and if she takes to them slip some actual eggs underneath her.