Keeping her Broody

[Mtnboomer]

Hey everyone! A few days ago one of my older hens went broody on me. She has done it before but has never made it full term. She almost always abandons the effort by day 8-10.
She is in a dark corner box of the coop, and has food and water only a few feet away.
I would like to do everything I can to encourage her to go the distance this time. Is there anything that can be done?
Ive always assumed its one of those things that she either will do or won't.

 

[centrarchid]

What can keep her prolactin levels from dropping? Mine go out broodiness for these reasons. Condition to poor to start with. Cannot get enough to eat so loose condition too fast. Have parasite issue causing them to loose condition to fast. Get disturbed by predator.

I have not observed failure of broodiness do to age alone.

 

[Mtnboomer]

She has gone broody at least once a year. She is an old hen that keeps escaping the chopping block almost to the point that its like fate is keeping her alive. She is the only remaining hen from our original birds. All other hens we keep are 10mos old max before butchering.
She is in excellent condition for her age (4yrs). Knock on wood we do not have nor have ever had a parasite issue. Although we have plenty of predators, she is very safe in our tried and true coop. Food and water is 4ft away.

The only thing I have left to contribute her failure to is age (but she has always failed to hatch eben when younger) or that it wasn't meant to be.
She has at least 3 eggs under her that i could tell, but i wouldn't be surprised if its more as our egg harvests suddenly dropped (suspect that the others are laying in her box for her to hatch).

Its day 6 so we will see if she breaks her previous record soon. I would love for her to go the distance.

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Mtnboomer]

She quit today. She left the nest at first light and hasn't been back since. Up to her same old tricks.

 

[50-45-1]

So if your broody in a coop situation, and the other hens continually bother her to lay there daily fresh egg under her, this interruption alone can discourage her from continuing.
Plus daily fresh eggs in a clutch, lead to staggered hatch which is tragic in itself.
IF you want to hatch under a broody, make or build a broody hutch. It will increase your chances of a successful hatch.

 

[Mtnboomer]

She only had the 3 eggs under her thus morning. Egg production from others is back to normal so they apparently were not laying with her as suspected.

 

[aart]

She has done it before but has never made it full term.

....and now one more.
Some are just not good setters.

 

[Mtnboomer]

....and now one more.
Some are just not good setters.

Looks that way

 

[Will230145]

All other hens we keep are 10mos old max before butchering.

If you don't mind me asking why is that, are they dual purpose breeds? I don't mean to be questioning your hen raising, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just get chicks every few years rather than getting a new flock every 10 months?

 

[Mtnboomer]

I don't mind you asking. I keep Brahmas which are a dual purpose breed. I have found that after 10 months for hens and 6mos for roos, the quality of meat begins to diminish. The hens don't get much bigger than they are at 10 months so keeping them longer is just a waste of feed and money.

We raise our own chicks in a sustainable system where once they leave the brooder at 8 wks they go into a juvenile coop/run. Here they stay until 4mos protected from the main free range flock yet visible and in close proximity, even feeding side by side through the fencing. This makes integrating them later go easier.

At 4 mos, they are sbout 2/3 the size of the adults. The hens in the free range flock are slaughtered to make room for the youngsters and the cockerels are all slaughtered. Then the cycle begins again with eggs collected for hatching.

I started this system because our friend whom gave us our original flock years ago uses them for gene expression studies. He will give us a new rooster 3 times a year to keep genetic diversity and prevent inbreeding. He also takes a sample batch of eggs from each generation to check for the genes he's studying. His involvement inherently created a quick turn over, so to speak, of birds. I hate waste and want to get the max potential out if everything. This system allows us to harvest meat within optimal flavor and texture ages, with good body weights (5-5.5lb hens and 6-7lb roos avg processed wt.) And prevents ending up with a whole lot of soup birds. My soup is delicious, but its nice to have more versatility. All the while, we are collecting more eggs than we can eat, so family, friends and neighbors are all enjoying the fruit of my labor.
I designed and built my brooder, coops, and runs from mostly salvaged materials. The expenses of start up and monthly feed bills etc. Have all been meticulously recorded along with egg and meat harvests. In the warmer months from April-July, the eggs alone are enough to cover monthly feed, but the rest of the year they fell short. The value of the meat harvests is what tips the scales in my favor.

If you don't mind me asking why is that, are they dual purpose breeds? I don't mean to be questioning your hen raising, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just get chicks every few years rather than getting a new flock every 10 months?