How young will a pullet get broody? Or is it even possible?

[gale65]

Our pullets are about 9 mos old. So today I go out to get eggs-we have 3 nests. I'll call them A, B and C. Stella the EE is in nest A so I check the other two. Nest B has two green eggs and we only have two easter egger pullets so Stella has laid her egg for the day already. Weird. So I get 2 brown from nest C. I figure Stella doesn't *need* to be in nest A, which happens to be the most popular nest, so I move the bin a few times to see if she'll get out. She stands up and I reach in for the eggs and she is sitting on 5 brown eggs. I take out the eggs and she gets out of the nest. 10 min later or so I go to take the eggs in the house and she is back in nest A, just sitting. No more eggs today. Would she be getting broody at this young age or do you think she was just wanting to hang out in a nest?

btw we check eggs several times a day, including once when we lock them up for the night (at which time they're all on the roost). So no eggs could have been from yesterday.

 

[HEChicken]

She's certainly not too young. I've heard of a pullet going broody before she laid her first egg! Several years ago someone on BYC suggested that if a hen hasn't gone broody by the time she's a year old, she is increasingly less likely to, as time goes on. Despite that, the only time I've had a broody was when she was a year and half old! Nevertheless, I would say that if your hen is 9 months old, there is no reason she couldn't go broody.

 

[gale65]

ok thanks. Darn. We don't really want to hatch out eggs at all. I guess I'll just keep collecting the eggs from under her if she keeps it up. Tonight when dh went to lock them up, she was on the roost. So maybe she's just practicing.

 

[gryeyes]

If she's up on the roost at night, she's not broody. But she may be gearing up to go broody!

My BO went broody at six months, only 3 weeks after she started laying. She hatched a single chick from 5 eggs. My first GrandChick wasn't even an egg laid by the BO herself - but one from an EE pullet and EE cockerel. (That cockerel is now my dominant rooster and the EE hen is his absolute favorite lady. They groom each other. She can even say "no" to his wing-dance and he respects her wishes!

But I digress. That BO has hatched two more sets of chicks in the past 2 years. She doesn't go broody all that often, but she is the only one who has done so more than once. (I've only had chickens just a few months over 2 years.)

 

[centrarchid]

The use of term pullet does not always agree well with chicken biology. Usual definition is a bird less than 1 year old. Definition I prefer to use is based on the ability to lay eggs. Therefore some females can be hens at 20 weeks (5 months) and all mine are by 28 weeks (7 months).