Making hens broody

[Eric R]

The best way to encourage a hen to go broody I've found is to let her accumulate a pile of eggs; eight seems to be the bare minimum here. Once she has say ten eggs, take a couple away. Believe it or not a hen knows exactly how many eggs she has. When you take a couple of eggs away it seems the hen realizes that her eggs are no longer undiscovered and safe. Ime this encourages them to sit on what they have left.
The method is far from foolproof but I've had it work enough time now to believe there is some merit in the logic and method.

PS, I don't believe golf balls will do the trick. The chickens here at least are not that stupid.

Golf balls worked fo her. You can see them in the pic.

 

[IamRainey]

The best way to encourage a hen to go broody I've found is to let her accumulate a pile of eggs; eight seems to be the bare minimum here. Once she has say ten eggs, take a couple away. Believe it or not a hen knows exactly how many eggs she has. When you take a couple of eggs away it seems the hen realizes that her eggs are no longer undiscovered and safe. Ime this encourages them to sit on what they have left.

This is interesting.

I'm going to put them all in a clutch and let them accumulate more then start removing a few to see what happens.

The eggs I've had out there are about 2 weeks old now. Do you think there's much chance of anything hatching or do I need to start all over again?

 

[Shadrach]

Golf balls worked fo her. You can see them in the pic.

Erm, how so you know it was the golf balls and not just she went broody?

 

[SueT]

This is interesting.

I'm going to put them all in a clutch and let them accumulate more then start removing a few to see what happens.

The eggs I've had out there are about 2 weeks old now. Do you think there's much chance of anything hatching or do I need to start all over again?

Well, why not candle the eggs...

 

[Shadrach]

This is interesting.

I'm going to put them all in a clutch and let them accumulate more then start removing a few to see what happens.

The eggs I've had out there are about 2 weeks old now. Do you think there's much chance of anything hatching or do I need to start all over again?

As long as the eggs haven't frozen, or been partially started by a hen, they should still be viable.
Just to make things crystal clear, the above method has worked here a few times. On the other hand I've had hens wait until they've accumulated over twenty eggs before they sat.
I do this with most of the hens here because I want them to sit. Not because I want them to hatch the eggs every time but because I want their egg laying mechanism to switch off. So, I let them sit for three days if their nest site is safe and then confiscate the eggs.
There is some evidence that high production hens live shorter lives and are more prone to reproductive disorders. I'm trying to limit the annual egg laying of the hens here to give their bodies a rest. Sometimes it can take two or three weeks for the egg laying cycle to switch back on. Bear in mind that for hens past two years old the cyccle rarely runs over some of the winter months. If a hen here goes broody twice a year which is very common and does this at her peak production months a six week break in peak production time is a worthwhile rest period.

 

[Eric R]

Well I now have ANOTHER broody. I was going to give her the remaining eggs from the incubator. My new question is whether it's better to give them to her now or closer to hatch time. I don't have a separate area for her like the other broody and would rather just let her hatch where she is but don't want to have the other hens pushing her out so they can lay or have to keep pulling the new eggs from her. Also don't want her jumping around from box to box and risk having her abandon these eggs.