Informal research poll on broodiness

[Debbie292d]

Thinking back, I wonder how much effect lighting has?
The ones that never went broody were given artificial light in the winter.
The later ones (that included more broodies) had natural light plus whatever might have come from street lights, house lights, and similar sources (not enough other light to affect when they went to sleep and woke up in the morning).

I truly wish light mattered. Anything! It gets so tiring. I've got two again today from the breeding pen and 3 in the coop. That's too many at once so taking care of the breeding pen ones first.

It's a joke when you google, "is there a way to keep a silkie from being broody."

#1: Block off their nests? They obviously don't raise chickens. Our hens have been broody on the floor in a corner in the coop I assume thinking I won't see them.

#2: Collect their eggs. There are no eggs because they aren't laying any. They'll move over to a nest that has one or more, but we take them out a couple of times a day. They sit on horse bedding pellets or straw; they get a choice.

#3: Lock them out of the coop. Been there, done that. Can't do that as then I have hens standing there wanting in to lay an egg. Open the door for them, the broody one(s) come running to plant their butts back on a nest.

#4: Confinement. There we go, that one works!

 

[NatJ]

I truly wish light mattered. Anything! It gets so tiring. I've got two again today from the breeding pen and 3 in the coop. That's too many at once so taking care of the breeding pen ones first.

It's a joke when you google, "is there a way to keep a silkie from being broody."

#1: Block off their nests? They obviously don't raise chickens. Our hens have been broody on the floor in a corner in the coop I assume thinking I won't see them.

#2: Collect their eggs. There are no eggs because they aren't laying any. They'll move over to a nest that has one or more, but we take them out a couple of times a day. They sit on horse bedding pellets or straw; they get a choice.

#3: Lock them out of the coop. Been there, done that. Can't do that as then I have hens standing there wanting in to lay an egg. Open the door for them, the broody one(s) come running to plant their butts back on a nest.

#4: Confinement. There we go, that one works!

Depending on how much trouble the broodies are causing, I can think of two rather drastic ways to deal with the situation:

1, have them live permanently in broody-breaker cages (that is basically what happens with commercial layers in battery cages.)

2, rehome or eat the ones that go broody and replace them with other chickens (probably other breeds.) Depending on how many chickens you are willing to cycle through, and how many breeds you are willing to try, you can probably end up with a flock that never goes broody, if you decide that is really important enough to be worth the bother.

At a more practical level, maybe you should arrange a few more broody-breaker cages, because it sounds like you are going to keep needing them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So, about what percentage of your birds have gone broody, even once?

When I got my first chicks to start the flock I got them from Cackle. I kept two pullets each of Black Australorp, Delaware, Buff Orpington, and Speckled Sussex. I kept a Speckled Sussex rooster. Both BA's went broody their second year, none of the others did. In my opinion, if I had kept different individual chicks or had gotten them from a different hatchery my results could have been very different. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. This is what happened.

The next couple of years I'd have two or three broodies a year, mainly these two hens or their daughters. I purposely hatched eggs from hens that had gone broody. The number of broodies increased. I kept a rooster that hatched from an egg laid by a hen that went broody. Within a couple of years 100% of my hens a year old or older were going broody, most of those multiple times a year.

I never keep a hen longer than two laying seasons. I generally replace my rooster every year so it is a pretty fast flock turnover.

This is a small sample size, not statistically significant. I don't mean to imply that everyone will get the same results. But I do believe heredity has a lot to do with whether they go broody or not.

 

[BDutch]

I wonder what the purpose is of these questions?

• Yes, the chickens free range. Part of the day, sometimes 8 hours. But not every day.
• Yes, I feed standard layer feed. But other feed too.
• No, they dont stay in the coop. They have an auto pop door to a run.
• No, I dont give high protein feed.
• One or two, were incubated. The others not. Most hens were broody raised.
• I have no rooster, had a cockerel though, had fertilised eggs from a cockerel 2 times. Other times I bought hatchery eggs.
• No, I don’t give high protein feed.

 

[Debbie292d]

Depending on how much trouble the broodies are causing, I can think of two rather drastic ways to deal with the situation:

1, have them live permanently in broody-breaker cages (that is basically what happens with commercial layers in battery cages.)

That works for ones I'm not breeding, although the longest is 4 days, then repeat in a month or two.

2, rehome or eat the ones that go broody and replace them with other chickens (probably other breeds.) Depending on how many chickens you are willing to cycle through, and how many breeds you are willing to try, you can probably end up with a flock that never goes broody, if you decide that is really important enough to be worth the bother.

That would be fun to try other breeds, but I'm stuck on these to breed. We just ordered a 2nd 12x20' Amish shed for that purpose.

At a more practical level, maybe you should arrange a few more broody-breaker cages, because it sounds like you are going to keep needing them.

This is what we'll have to do. When the new shed gets here, we will build some runs off of it. Then I'll get hubby to build me a couple of rudimentary broody jails. The current one is just too small for more than 2/3.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I wonder what the purpose is of these questions?

• Yes, the chickens free range. Part of the day, sometimes 8 hours. But not every day.
• Yes, I feed standard layer feed. But other feed too.
• No, they dont stay in the coop. They have an auto pop door to a run.
• No, I dont give high protein feed.
• One or two, were incubated. The others not. Most hens were broody raised.
• I have no rooster, had a cockerel though, had fertilised eggs from a cockerel 2 times. Other times I bought hatchery eggs.
• No, I don’t give high protein feed.

In another post we came up with a bunch of things that might contribute to broodiness. Everything from management styles to heredity. Trying to get some real life data.

 

[BDutch]

In another post we came up with a bunch of things that might contribute to broodiness. Everything from management styles to heredity. Trying to get some real life data.

One of my hens (random) goes broody if I leave 4-5 eggs (or fake eggs) in a nestbox. In spring/summer.

When I have a broody, another hen will accompany her within a week for a co-hatch.

I don’t think roosters or feed is contributing. Biut health is very important. A broody has to survive 21 day with less food and exercise, and I think she knows when its not a good time to breed. Like in winter.

My hens that go broody lay very wel in the period before going broody.

 

[LaurenRitz]

One of my hens (random) goes broody if I leave 4-5 eggs (or fake eggs) in a nestbox. In spring/summer.

When I have a broody, another hen will accompany her within a week for a co-hatch.

I don’t think roosters or feed is contributing. Biut health is very important. A broody has to survive 21 day with less food and exercise, and I think she knows when its not a good time to breed. Like in winter.

My hens that go broody lay very wel in the period before going broody.

According to the numbers collected so far, there MAY be a feed correlation (that recommended 16% is for commercial layers that are not expected to live more than a year or two) but I messed up on the rooster question so I don't have sufficient information there. I suspect a rooster may have more correlation with whether the hen fully commits, and whether the hatch is successful.

My birds go broody in winter all the time. 6-7 months after they go broody in the spring, they're back at it. They also relay rather than co-brood. Just about the time one has her chicks, another will go broody.

Since they're of different breeds and both came from a breeder in CA, I suspect the twice a year brooding is a multi-generational adaptation to tgat environment.

 

[BDutch]

Are you also trying to figure out the fertility rate of the eggs (rooster quality) ?
Or just everything that involves a superb hatch rate with a broody ?

 

[LaurenRitz]

The original question was why a hen goes broody, irrespective of whether she sticks. Many different people, many different experiences, from people who totally free range (little or no commercial food) to people who keep their precious in a locked run. People whose birds are constantly broody, to people who can't get a broody to save their lives. It runs the gamut, and while some breeds are notoriously more broody than others, much of the data can't be accounted for by breed. I am dealing primarily with management, because that's what people can affect.