how do I encourage a hen to go broody...

[v.cyr]

one of our year old BRxBO hens, who we call B.B. for short(her full name comes from the fact that if you value your eyeballs, you NEVER reach into or even go near the nest boxes if she could possibly see you do it... 8 lbs of angry hen flying at your face isn't fun at all) shows some of what I assume are broody tendancies... on top of her agressive defence of all the nest boxes, she is the only one of the hens that has claimed one box as "her's", and only allows one other hen to use it... she is also the only one of our hens who doesn't imediatly consider something smaller than her to be lunch... she actually thumped two of the other hens that tried to kill Rocky(our approx. 3mo old Buff Brahma Roo) when we attempted to introduce him, and she became very agitated when she heard us take the box of little meepers out of the car over the weekend, while all the other chickens could have cared less ... I was wondering if there was anything I could do to push her over the edge into full blown broodiness, or is it one of those things I have to wait for her to decide?... I would like to try to hatch some eggs under her this summer, if posible... I am pretty sure she would make a good mama...

 

[ClareScifi]

My broody hen, a 15-month old Barred Rock, is a very gentle chicken, and she didn't need any encouragement at all to go broody. She's never shown aggressive broodiness until the other day, when she did make some loud noises at me, but that's all.

She first went broody around last November, going under the house, where she had laid eggs, unbeknownst to me. She did come out the following day, and I got her cooped up for the winter, and she didn't go broody again until this Spring, and she has been non-stop broody. I've tried to break her of her broodiness several times, but it does no good. She goes back under the house and spies those unfertilized old eggs, which I can't reach to remove, and she goes broody all over again, but this is her first full-blown episode-- 3 days now, and I can't get her to come out.

If she does ever come out again, I don't know what to do other than to get a rooster and let her be broody inside the safer confines of a coop and maybe get it out of her system, hatching real chicks.

 

[dianneS]

Sometimes just a nest full of eggs is enough to entice them. If I forget to collect the eggs and some accumulate, my one hen goes broody. Certain breeds go broody easier than others. I only have one broody at this time, the rest of the flock never go broody and that's fine with me! One mom is enough, and she's a good mom too!