Please explain broody

[theroostercalls]

Hello! I am way new to the chicken world and I am hopefully getting a few silkies, I read that they are frequently broody. I tried looking online but I couldn't get a straight up answer. Thank you!

 

[appps]

What that means is they spend a lot of time trying to hatch eggs rather than laying them.

Every month or so they will stop laying and just try and sit in the nest box hatching eggs. They don't care if there are even eggs in the nesting box or if you have a rooster so they can hatch. You then either get no eggs for up to a month or so till they give up or you have to find a way to keep them off the nest 24 hours a day for up to a week so they give up early.

On the flip side if you want to hatch eggs they are fantastic mums generally and you never have to wait too long for one to be ready to nest.

 

[theroostercalls]

Oh thank you so much for explaining that to me!

 

[appps]

You're welcome