If an old hen is broody does that mean she'll still lay eggs?

[card5640]

Someone wants to give me some hens, she doesnt know how old they are but there are several who are broody right now and setting on lots of eggs, some eggs may or may not be their own. My questions is: If a hen is being broody does that mean she still lays eggs? Then I would know which hens to take or not.

 

[Indiana hens]

No guarantee but probable that she will lay again.

 

[speckledhen]

She won't lay while broody, but they usually start back from 3-8 weeks after the hatch is over.

 

[card5640]

Speckled Hen, thanks, mine have generally started laying w/in 2-5 weeks of breaking them of the broodiness. My question is: When hens are broody does that prove that they are still able to lay once the broodiness is over. I am wondering due to not knowing the age of the current broody hens that a friend wants to give me. I dont want to take hens that are not going to lay ever again. She has quite a few that are sitting and I could choose from those. I wondering if hens past the "change of life" still go broody.

 

[Sissy]

What happens to the hen
if you take the eggs away from her.
will that break her being broody?
it seems the other hen is doing the laying.

 

[card5640]

I do take them away and block her favorite box for a bit, a few times I had to move them to the "sick" coop.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Hens don't lay while they're broody, so if she is truly broody, you're right, she's not laying right now. If you let her hatch some eggs, she'll get over being broody. A few weeks later, or at any rate when she decides the chicks are big enough to be on their own, she'll most likely lay again.

If you take away the eggs she may or may not continue to brood. Some will brood an empty nest. Some will brood as long as you let them, or until they starve to death, unless they have eggs that hatch.

If you need to break a hen's broodiness, she needs to be confined with food and water, but no nesting materials at all. I have an outdoor enclosure with a roosting pole, food and water, and a roof, but only welded wire fencing on 3 sides, open to air. No place to nest in private, bare dirt on the ground. Plenty of room to move around, though. It usually only takes 2 or 3 days in there for a hen to get over being broody. You can toss a roo in there too, he'll bug the heck out of her and she won't be able to sit still and be broody.

Some people use a wire bottom cage, no nesting materials, place the cage where it has air circulating under it. The hen can't keep her body temp up, and will come out of the broodiness as her temp drops back to normal. Corn tends to keep the temp up, so you might want to restrict corn for a little while.