Is "Broody Hens" contagious???????

[BigOchicks]

We have 36 girls ranging from 1 year to 4 years old. One of our girls tends to be broody often, this time two months so far. However; recently we have seven girls broody and not laying. We are also noticing a decrease in egg production among the others as well, which is abnormal for this group of girls. They have a very large yard as well as they roam the pasture each day for about 4 -5 hours. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[sumi]

Spring is the time of the year for broody hens, unfortunately. If you don't want them to hatch chicks, what you can do is break their broodiness by placing them, one by one, in a wire bottom cage with only food and water for a few days, or as long as it takes them to give up. It usually takes around 3-4 days.

The decreased egg production could be a number of things. Here's a list of possible causes:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-behaviours-and-egg-laying-why-are-my-hens-not-laying

 

[realsis]

Hi my hens broody too! She stopped laying completely when she went broody.

 

[BigOchicks]

The girls are no longer broody. They are back to their normal selves again, happy, social egg layers.