Should I wait until my hens go broody to breed them?

[BackyardDove]

I have three Silkie hens and a Booted Bantam hen. Both of those breeds are said to go broody easily, but my girls are over 10 months old and haven't gone broody yet. I'm not in too big of a rush for them to go broody, but should I introduce the roosters before or after the hens go broody?

 

[MySweetChickens]

Introduce the before the eggs won't be fertile otherwise

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Hens don't lay eggs while broody so you need to do it before.

 

[BackyardDove]

Thank you! I suppose it was kind of an obvious answer, but I just wanted to make sure.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Well it's not that obvious, especially if you don't know exactly how a chicken works.

 

[BackyardDove]

Well it's not that obvious, especially if you don't know exactly how a chicken works.

That's the thing, I do know how a chicken works and I do know they stop laying eggs after going broody. But I didn't know if maybe she'd lay eggs if the rooster managed to mate with her whenever she gets up to eat.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Oh I see what you're saying. Nope, the rooster mating her won't make her start laying again.