Orpington Broodiness

[TigerLilly]

Ok, I have had 3 of my BO's for a year now. 2 are just over a year & the other is just over 2 yrs. Aside from moulting, they have been decent layers, right on through the mild winter. I do not add extra lighting to increase winter egg-laying. They are in great health & seem to be happy. They free-range every day. Get Layena, BOSS, treats, etc.
WHY HASN'T AT LEAST ONE OF THEM GONE BROODY???? I know you can't force it, but their "frequent" broodiness was part of the reason I chose the breed!
Any suggestions, jokes or othewise goofy remarks are appreciated...

 

[Chinchilla2]

Someone told me that if you give a hen a bunch of golfballs in a nest they will go broody. Doesn't do one much good to try to hatch out golfballs (wouldn't know what to do with a golf anyway if one hatched) but if one did decide to go broody on them, you could switch them out with fertile eggs during the night and maybe that would kick off the other hens to do the same thing.

Mine are only about 6-8 weeks now so I'm still in the egg waiting stage.

 

[OLCHOOK]

Getting your chickens warmer can set of broodiness in some breeds. I don't know what you're feeding them but cracked corn will get mine broody quickly. I think that your younger hens are too young to go broody so I wouldn't get your hopes up there for at least another 6-8 months.

Maybe restrict the free ranging a bit more on the oldest hen and up the cracked corn. Keep her a touch warmer in a coop for a few weeks and see what happens.

My .02 cents worth.

Linz

 

[TigerLilly]

@ Chinchilla2 - I'm with you, I wouldn't know what to do with a golf either! I don't want them ALL to go broody, I just want one of them to...

@ OldChook - I'm in Florida, the temps have been in the 90s, how much warmer does she need to be?! Don't know about being able to do that anyway; the coop is in the shade specifically because of the Fl heat. As for the cracked corn, I have been giving them some, not cracked (picked up the wrong bag), as a treat for about 3 wks or so. Suggestions on how much & why that seems to work for you? Yeah, I'm not counting on the younger ones...I'll just be happy when they stop being freeloaders!

Thanks for both of your replies. Anyone else? Feel free to chime in! This is about to make me crazy...

 

[galanie]

My hatchery orps go broody a lot, but the breeder ones haven't so far. Then again, they're pretty young and I only have a few of those. The hatchery buffs went broody within 3 months of starting to lay though and sometimes I wish they weren't so broody. Of course now that I have fertile eggs in the incubator NONE OF THEM WILL GO BROODY!

Love your name, TigerLilly, I have two dark cornish I named Tiger and Lilly.

 

[Dutchess]

TigerLilly I have read here people buy fertile eggs and put them under a broody hen. If she sits for golf balls, maybe you can slide in some fertile eggs!

 

[TigerLilly]

Thanks, Galanie.

Dutchess...I DONT have a broody hen...

 

[UrbanFarmerGirl]

One of ours was nearly always broody- would sit on nothing at all. Sometimes the trigger was simply not collecting eggs for a few days while we were on vacation. She molted first, when she was about 7 months old, and was broody on and off after that. When she was set I could not break her of it. She would sit for weeks and weeks. She was also a terrible layer. Our other buff lays well and has never been broody. Due to the extreme differences in their comb sizes as well I am guessing the different behaviors had a lot to do with individual hormone levels- but maybe try leaving eggs for a couple of days (I don't know if they can tell between golf balls and eggs. Mine would just sit on nothing at all.)

 

[Carolyn]

I have never had a broody hen except when I was without a roo.....bummer. I have BO, hatchery birds that started laying at 5 months the first wk in August. 2 of them have already gone broody. They like to fly over my net wire electric fence and free range with or without permission. We thought one had been caught by a predator but a month later she reappeared. The other found a place in the coop that was not easily accessible and was setting on a large pile of eggs, not only hers. I am not sure why the other hens decided to share with her, they normally are good about laying in the nesting box. My egg numbers are down and I think these 2 have not gone back to laying yet.

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
Maybe I actually need a vacation! I can't NOT collect the eggs for fear of attracting predators...no problem so far with it, but I'm always afraid that either a predator with find its way in or some of the younger pullets will start pecking at the eggs. So far so good on that as well. I guess at some point I'm going to incubate, but not until next year.