I have a broody LEGHORN?

[Blackberry18]

I know it's silly of me to ask about broodiness, as I've dealt with it before, but I never thought one of my Leghorns would go broody, as it's usually not in their personality and breed stereotype (obviously there is exceptions). She's always in the nest when I come up to put them away at night (she usually is on top of the boxes with the others), and this morning, she didn't go down to get food with the others. I took her out of the nest to eat, but she just turned right around and jumped back in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Many production breeds like Leghorns and RIR’s have had most of the broodiness bred out of them. A broody hen is not laying eggs and often disrupts the henhouse so many production operations have made going broody a fatal condition. After several generations of this, most of the broodiness has been bred out of them.

But that is most of the broodiness, not necessarily all. Just like you can have a hen from a breed that normally goes broody never go broody you can have a hen from a breed that hardly ever goes broody surprise you. You are dealing with living animals. You don’t get absolutes.

 

[Spartan22]

I got 3 white leghorns with barred rocks & wyandottes @1 yr old one went broody last spring. I was also surprised since the impression that they'd been bred to good production. I kicked her out of the nests whenever I can to make sure she eats for almost 2 wks and she got the idea, 2 wks later she started laying again which also surprised me. I've read that when hens go broody they could take a break from laying for months. My leghorns are my best layers 7/7 a week with jumbo eggs. Fascinate me how light and small their bodies are.

 

[sumi]

Broodiness is hormonal and can strike at any time, or never at all. As Ridgerunner said above, most production types have been bred away from the tendency, but some will go back to nature and do what nature tells them to do. I've had ex-battery hens go broody on me. They hatched and raised their chicks and were o.k. mothers too. Battery hens are also supposedly "non-broody"... So never say never!

 

[AuntNomi]

I have a white leghorn that has been trying her hardest to be broody. She was not exactly 100% committed though. She would be in there on the nest for days and days without leaving. Then I guess one day she forgot she was trying to hatch eggs, and stayed out all day long. Then went back at night then stayed for days then left. I didn't know til she left it the first time, which was probably 8 days in, that my husband had removed eggs everyday and gave golfballs.