Is there a benefit to hens going broody?

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Is there a benefit for hens to go broody? And is there a benefit to having a rooster with your girls? I am going back and forth as to keeping my roosters, but I think I’m swinging on the other side of the fence on this again. I don’t know that I want to have chicks around, so if there no benefit to my hens as far as their quality of life, I would love to know. Thanks in advance

 

[raingarden]

Is there a benefit for hens to go broody?

Survival of the species?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Only benefit of a broody is if you want to hatch/raise chicks, that's it.

Broodies can die from loss of body condition, increased risk of parasites, so IMO there's no reason to let them set if you do not intent to hatch or give her chicks.

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Survival of the species?

Ok Captain Obvious Let me rephrase - if I don’t want babies, and collect eggs daily, there wouldn’t be broody behavior? Or is that unavoidable, and does the presence of a rooster affect that? Go easy on me, honest questions

 

[alpacasandchicks78]

Ok Captain Obvious Let me rephrase - if I don’t want babies, and collect eggs daily, there wouldn’t be broody behavior? Or is that unavoidable, and does the presence of a rooster affect that? Go easy on me, honest questions

Are you referring to a tendency to go into brood because of the presence of a rooster vs brood without a rooster?? They're less broody without having a rooster around but it still happens occasionally. Collecting the eggs daily helps as well too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

if I don’t want babies, and collect eggs daily, there wouldn’t be broody behavior? Or is that unavoidable, and does the presence of a rooster affect that?

Hens will go broody with or without a rooster, and with or without viable eggs (or even eggs at all). It's all hormonal, if their hormones tell them to go broody, it doesn't matter if the time of year is bad for it, if there's a pile of eggs, etc.

Breed can be a factor. Letting eggs pile up may increase the odds of getting a broody as well.

 

[saysfaa]

... And is there a benefit to having a rooster ...

Yes. Or there can be, anyway. He can ease the social dynamics (or make them less smooth), watch for predators, escort the hens to the nest and back to the flock which also helps against predators, find food for the hens. Any or all of these are more important in some set ups than in others.

I think a flock of hens usually can have a good quality of life without a rooster.

 

[SilverBirds]

Ok Captain Obvious Let me rephrase - if I don’t want babies, and collect eggs daily, there wouldn’t be broody behavior? Or is that unavoidable, and does the presence of a rooster affect that? Go easy on me, honest questions

I wouldn't say that a rooster increases broodiness. Hormones tell a hen when she needs to go broody. Hens can go broody at any time of the year, with our without eggs, and with our without a rooster. Some chickens will go broody annually and some may become broody once or twice in their life. Many won't go broody at all. Breed also plays a part in broodiness.

If you do ever end up with a broody and you have no intention of her hatching babies you can easily break her. Read about breaking broodys here and here.

 

[aart]

They're less broody without having a rooster around but it still happens occasionally.

Ha!
This was the first year out of 9 that I didn't have a male in the flock,
had more broodies this year than ever before.

 

[Shadrach]

Benefits for who? This is a good starting point for both questions.
Questions like this can be understood and dealt with better by adjusting the question a bit.
What you are asking is are there benefits in having chickens carry out natural behaviours.
Hopefully those who have answered no to the question as you put it would now change their answer.
Next there is that thorny matter of the keeping arrangements. In some keeping circumstances broody hens and roosters are likely to be less of an issue than in others.
In the right keeping circumstances having broody hens and letting them sit is allowing them to carry out natural behaviour. One could argue that of all the natural behaviours that even the more forward thinking large commercial concerns are trying to address such as access to natural ground, dust bathing, room to fly, ground to scratch on etc etc, are secondary to carrying the genes forward and that is what going broody is all about and that is also what having a rooster is about.

The most obvious benefit for a broody hen apart from the above is while she is broody, she isn't laying eggs. This gives her reproductive system a rest. Say she sits for the full 21 days and it takes a further week after for her egg laying cycle to reboot. That's a months rest from egg laying.

There is absolutely no reason for a hen to lose condition if the keeping circumstances are adjusted to the hens broodiness. Most hens will get off their nests once a day and eat, drink, dust bathe and socialise a bit. The keepers job is to make sure there is sufficient food and facilities to enable the hen to do these things. Considering that an approximate third of the hens nutritional intake is no longer needed to make an egg, maintaining condition with respect to diet should not be a problem.
If they can leave the nest at will, then feather condition and parasite control can be dealt with by the hen.
In the right keeping conditions there are no reintegration problems when the hen has finished sitting.

However, if the keeper wants to squeeze every egg possible out of the hen and isn't remotely interested in what's good for the hen then broody hens are a nuisance.