Questions on broodiness

[MLG1900]

Hello all!
I have a few questions about broody hens. I had a hen hatch eggs 2 summers ago. I was hoping she would go broody last summer but she was killed by a hawk She was a buff orpington. None of my other chickens went broody that last summer.

So, I would really like a hen to go broody this summer. What can I do to help encourage this? Should I not collect eggs every day? Is there a particular month that they are more likely to be broody? Are they more likely to be broody at a certain age?

edited to add that my BO hen was 2 years old when she went broody. The first year none of my hens acted broody and I collected eggs from them every day. Even hens that were in the nest boxes. I just collected eggs. When I went on vacation the following year, I think my mother was afraid to collect eggs from under hens. Do they need to have a certain number of eggs in a nest box to decide to start setting?

 

[Criticalicious]

Broody is determined by hormones and it's hard to control or create. Some breeds and some individuals are more prone than others. My one experience with a broody, honestly, I think she did it because it was so frickin hot outside (mid-90s for weeks), she couldn't help herself. She was 1.5. Considering one way to break a broody is to cool her off, this makes sense.

 

[MLG1900]

Broody is determined by hormones and it's hard to control or create. Some breeds and some individuals are more prone than others. My one experience with a broody, honestly, I think she did it because it was so frickin hot outside (mid-90s for weeks), she couldn't help herself. She was 1.5. Considering one way to break a broody is to cool her off, this makes sense.

That is an interesting thought about the heat. I can't remember if it was a very hot summer or not. I remember it was pretty hot at the end of her incubation though, because she started leaving the nest for several hours at a time. I can remember being concerned that she was not going to go back to the nest!

 

[minaayindra]

That's interesting about your hens- I have the opposite problem in that I don't want any eggs hatched but I now have 2 hens who will not leave their nesting boxes, even though they've stopped laying, and I see signs a few more will follow. I am a new chicken lover and owner with 14 hens, a rooster who lives with one of the hens, and 4 guineas. This just started in the last few weeks and it has been below freezing most of the time, as well as impossible for chickens to come outside and exercise due to ice. I don't mind if they're broody or not laying eggs, I just was wondering when this will stop, if anyone knows. One coop contains my mid-size hens and they are so fascinated at the hen who won't come out that they stare into her box constantly, eliciting growling. One of my other hens seems to want to raise every egg that is laid by any hen in her coop, and if she can get on 4 different ones she is in heaven! This is interesting behavior as long as everyone stays healthy and safe. Any input from those who have experienced broodiness for a long time? Also, MLG, I would be interested in your descriptions of your hens as they go along. As I said, you WANT chicks and I run screaming from the building at the thought!

 

[aart]

I don't mind if they're broody or not laying eggs, I just was wondering when this will stop, if anyone knows.

Broodies don't lay eggs.
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
They can lose condition, sometimes but rarely unto death, and can be chaotic to have one setting in a nest and acting 'weird'.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[minaayindra]

Yikes- I just didn't understand why they would do this with no eggs or chicks in sight. I am now picking up the one and forcing her out into the coop for a while but she still comes back, puffs up, and reigns supreme from her chosen box. If it won't hurt them, I don't think the other chickens will bother them except to climb all over out of curiosity. Surely they don't get this way and never come out of it? I know they are eating and drinking and I see the large broody poops every day when I come in to clean their floors.

 

[minaayindra]

Broodies don't lay eggs.
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
They can lose condition, sometimes but rarely unto death, and can be chaotic to have one setting in a nest and acting 'weird'.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 2014198

aart, I just realized it was you, my frequent font of knowledge!

 

[cmom]

I agree a broody is determined by hormones and hard to control or create and that some breeds and some individuals are more prone than others. I have both Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites. My Rhode Island Whites tend to be more broody. I have broken some by using cages but now every evening I make any broody get out of a nest box and out of the coop. Eventually they get the message but it may take awhile. I have golf balls in the nest boxes and right now one is sitting on a golf ball, no eggs. She does puff up at me but hasn't gotten aggressive. It's a ritual right now.

 

[50-45-1]

dont leave your eggs in the nest boxes to encourage broodyness, instead get some golf balls or fake eggs as decoys. Leaving your eggs will result in rotten or broken eggs. This could lead to egg eating or just a disgusting mess.
Continue to gather your eggs daily and if you have a broody someday you can start saving eggs for up to a week before placing them under her.
You want all the eggs to begin at the same time so the chicks hatch at the same time.
i have a persistant broody right now who i have to break AGAIN! Silly girl, doesant she realize its 25 degrees and a foot of snow outside?

 

[centrarchid]

I have representatives of a breed (American Dominique) that have a reduced capacity for becoming broody. Most of those birds do not become broody during their first egg production season. Those that do go broody in the first year are typically doing so late in the summer before onset of heavy molt. Hens in their second season of lay are much more inclined to go broody and they can do so at any time during the egg-laying season although they are most prone to do later in the summer. Older hens still are much more inclined to become broody and also produce fewer eggs, even when not going broody.

Game hens present another story. Younger hens / pullets in their first season of lay tend to produce larger clutches before going broody when compared to older hens in the same location at same time. I state again "tend". If the game hens are fed a lot of quality feed, then they tend to produce larger clutches than hens with less food. I have also seen smaller clutches for broody game hens during extended drought. Clutch size can vary because of the duration of laying to produce the clutch or the average interval between successive eggs. I am not sure which is more important.

What I think it typical with free-range hens getting all nutrition through foraging is they start producing eggs when the hen is at peak weight. Over the following days she looses weight even when she can forage all day. Generally, by time hen goes broody she is noticeably lighter than when she laid first egg of clutch. Still she is heavy enough to loose more weight as she incubates clutch over next 21 days plus. She looses weight then even though she can eat at her discretion. The hen looses even more weight for the following couple weeks as she sees to the food needs of her chicks first. My hens are at their lightest when chicks are 10 to 14 days post-hatch. If hens ways too little at any point during incubation or brooding, their is increased risk of her aborting the reproductive effort. Hens provided free-choice access to nutrient dense feed do not exhibit the same degree of weight depression during the broody cycle.

There is a hormone system regulating broodiness, but some how something about the hen's physiology starts and stops that hormone cycle. It may be status of liver and its ability to support oogenisis, or it maybe because of some limiting nutrient like calcium or phosphate reserves in medulary bone.

This is a question that has interested me for a long time. Books so far have not adequately explained things to me.