what age to expect hens to go broody

[Rehoboth]

We have 12 hens who are 20 weeks old, so we are eagerly waiting to see the first eggs. Also one rooster. My question is, since we first got into keeping chickens last fall, we are having so much fun with them, we are thinking about expanding to raise birds for meat. Apart from the question of best breeds for meat (I know the heritage layers we have are at best dual purpose, and some are not good meat types at all), I am curious about keeping a self-perpetuating flock: letting some hens hatch eggs, and planning to slaughter most of those birds when they reach 12-14 weeks. For planning purposes I am wondering: at what age can I expect some hens to go broody? Will they do it at all this year, or do they need to be older? Will they do it within a few months of starting to lay, so we might hatch eggs in spring/early summer, or should I not expect it till late summer/fall?

And: our coops are of the pre-built type where the nest boxes are in a row off the side, and there is one lid to lift up and look into all of the nest boxes at once. I'm thinking this would be disruptive to a broody hen, and we need to make something different for a broody box. Has anyone had experience with a broody hen starting in this type of nest box?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IF a pullet/hen would go broody, it could be anywhere from 5 months to 10 years.
What breeds do you have? While any breed can go broody, some are much more inclined to do so.

 

[DobieLover]

at what age can I expect some hens to go broody?

They can start as pullets or wait until hens. Most of them won't kick off until the weather is hot. And there are no guarantees any will go broody. Some breeds tend to be more predisposed to broodiness than others but each bird is individual and many breeds said never to go broody do.

Will they do it at all this year

I've had pullets go broody during their first winter. They may. They may not.

our coops are of the pre-built type where the nest boxes are in a row off the side, and there is one lid to lift up and look into all of the nest boxes at onc

Oy vey! Not a pre-fab.
If you are serious about this, I would suggest getting a real coop. I like the shed to coop conversions. It's easy and having a walk-in style coop is AWESOME. Then you can build a "maternity ward" where broody mommas can be set up to set eggs.

 

[Bonwell]

We have 12 hens who are 20 weeks old, so we are eagerly waiting to see the first eggs. Also one rooster. My question is, since we first got into keeping chickens last fall, we are having so much fun with them, we are thinking about expanding to raise birds for meat. Apart from the question of best breeds for meat (I know the heritage layers we have are at best dual purpose, and some are not good meat types at all), I am curious about keeping a self-perpetuating flock: letting some hens hatch eggs, and planning to slaughter most of those birds when they reach 12-14 weeks. For planning purposes I am wondering: at what age can I expect some hens to go broody? Will they do it at all this year, or do they need to be older? Will they do it within a few months of starting to lay, so we might hatch eggs in spring/early summer, or should I not expect it till late summer/fall?

And: our coops are of the pre-built type where the nest boxes are in a row off the side, and there is one lid to lift up and look into all of the nest boxes at once. I'm thinking this would be disruptive to a broody hen, and we need to make something different for a broody box. Has anyone had experience with a broody hen starting in this type of nest box?

I've tended to Over 100 chickens throughout my life so far, and I've only had 5 broody hens total. Idk if I've just been lucky or not but I wouldn't worry about it too much. As for the age that it typically happens, It varies quite alot.

 

[NatJ]

For planning purposes I am wondering: at what age can I expect some hens to go broody? Will they do it at all this year, or do they need to be older? Will they do it within a few months of starting to lay, so we might hatch eggs in spring/early summer, or should I not expect it till late summer/fall?

Broodiness seems more likely to happen in the spring or summer, no matter what age they are, but it can happen at any time of the year.

I would expect each pullet to lay at least some eggs before going broody (if she goes broody at all.)

Individual pullets and hens can be very different from each other, varying by breed and by individual within the breed. I've had a few bantam pullets that hatched in the early spring, started laying in the late summer or early fall, and went broody after laying about a dozen eggs each (age probably 5-6 months). I've had other pullets & hens that laid hundreds of eggs and never went broody at any season. Of the ones that do go broody, some do it several times each summer, and others go broody only once each spring.

 

[Poppy Putentake]

I think if they are laying eggs, they are old enough to go broody. I would put some golf balls or fake eggs in the nesting boxes and see which hens decide to sit on them.

For raising baby chicks, I have a separate mini-tractor with a "run" area (bare ground) about 60"x60" and a completely enclosed space "upstairs" about half as big with a "nest" about 24"x18". (I've also used a cardboard box a bit bigger than a regular nesting box for the brooding nest.) This way, the other hens won't catch the broodiness bug and the chicks can start out not being bullied by the other grown hens.

One year, I was getting my my chicks in April rather than May, and the hen I usually use for brooding just refused to go broody, probably ecause of the early season, so I used the "mother heating pad" method in the same enclosure and that worked too.

BTW, the hormonal changes a broody bird undergoes are similar to the ones that induce lactation in mammals.

 

[Rehoboth]

IF a pullet/hen would go broody, it could be anywhere from 5 months to 10 years.
What breeds do you have? While any breed can go broody, some are much more inclined to do so.

We have a gold laced Wyandotte, a black copper Marans, a silver spangled Hamburg, 2 leghorns, 2 RIR, 2 anconas, and 3 Easter Egger - hatchery mystery box. I don't think any of those are famous for being broody, but I'm hoping at least one of them will have an interest.

 

[Rehoboth]

They can start as pullets or wait until hens. Most of them won't kick off until the weather is hot. And there are no guarantees any will go broody. Some breeds tend to be more predisposed to broodiness than others but each bird is individual and many breeds said never to go broody do.

I've had pullets go broody during their first winter. They may. They may not.

Oy vey! Not a pre-fab.
If you are serious about this, I would suggest getting a real coop. I like the shed to coop conversions. It's easy and having a walk-in style coop is AWESOME. Then you can build a "maternity ward" where broody mommas can be set up to set eggs.

Oh believe me, I am very frustrated with the pre fab coops. What happened is, we moved from a townhouse to a place with 5 acres, but in a municipality which didn't allow chickens. It took them two years after we moved to get around to allowing chickens. In the meantime, my husband found used equipment for sale cheap, so he collected it. I avoided studying much about chickens because I didn't want to get emotional about the long delay in changing the zoning, so I didn't know what questions to ask about the coops. Then they finally permitted chickens at the end of September last year, and I just dove right in, because it seemed to be the last possible opportunity to get the chicks started and have them ready for cold weather. That part worked.

The part that didn't work is, I'm now finding out lots of things about the set up my husband found that aren't great. The coops are supposed to be mobile but it took us three hours to move them to their current location. The nest boxes open all at once. There's a metal grating blocking the poop board off from the linoleum floor of the rest of the coop. The human door swings in. Between those factors, I can't do true deep litter. And, the poop board is heavy, so super awkward and annoying to take out to clean; which needs to be done often, because the coop prohibits other alternatives. I could go on. I would like to completely revamp our set up. But I am completely illiterate about tools, which my husband is super handy with; but he's also super busy; so as long as the hens have a safe dry place to live, I need to be patient about getting around to my ideal coop set up. In the end, I envision us with several different coops, some for egg layers, a broody partition, and areas for turkeys and meat birds and maybe ducks. Eventually.

 

[Rehoboth]

I think if they are laying eggs, they are old enough to go broody. I would put some golf balls or fake eggs in the nesting boxes and see which hens decide to sit on them.

For raising baby chicks, I have a separate mini-tractor with a "run" area (bare ground) about 60"x60" and a completely enclosed space "upstairs" about half as big with a "nest" about 24"x18". (I've also used a cardboard box a bit bigger than a regular nesting box for the brooding nest.) This way, the other hens won't catch the broodiness bug and the chicks can start out not being bullied by the other grown hens.

One year, I was getting my my chicks in April rather than May, and the hen I usually use for brooding just refused to go broody, probably ecause of the early season, so I used the "mother heating pad" method in the same enclosure and that worked too.

BTW, the hormonal changes a broody bird undergoes are similar to the ones that induce lactation in mammals.

That sounds like the kind of thing we need to do. Our coops are not conducive to partitioning or having a broody inside, so a mini-coop seems like the way to go.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I use mini coops (lockable at night) with temporary plastic fenced runs that the rest of the flock can see but not get to the chicks and mama hen inside.

I've had pullets (5 months) go broody. Easiest way to encourage broodiness is to leave a collection (4+) of fake eggs in nest box. The earliest I've had a broody start is early September (I am southern hemisphere) so this is the first month of spring here. Most usually they start brooding in late September to early October. They will have another go at it later in the summer.