what age to expect hens to go broody

[Poppy Putentake]

PS: My hens are all different breeds. The one that goes broody is the Golden Laced Wyandotte.

 

[Rehoboth]

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.

That's really helpful to know, thanks!

 

[Iluveggers]

You could also invest in an incubator. That way you could have chicks at any point you decide rather than being at the mercy of a broody chicken!

 

[Rehoboth]

That's true. I'm not ready to invest in more equipment right now, the next priority for infrastructure needs to be the coop upgrades. And I kind of like the idea of letting the hen have fun hatching, and we have fun watching her. If none of our hens turn out to be interested I'll have to consider an incubator again.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Broodies from my experience can happen between 5-6 months after they begin laying.

1-2yrs seems to be the most common on our hobby farm.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

Heh my chickens are game breeds (like Kelso, Hatch, Spanish) and boy I wish they weren't as intent on being mothers as they are; the moment they get their hormonal instruction (usually after laying anywhere from 16-20 eggs) no matter how many eggs they have in the nest they will go broody... It's been quite troublesome at times because sometimes they'll hide the nests and we've had up to 5 chickens with chicks at the same time and some are a bit aggressive with the others... Heh right now I have three sitting on eggs. Had a sweet young pullet that tried to hatch some eggs but they didn't work out, felt bad for her.
Also wish they would all just like the nests I put for them in the coop, but not all of them do... And since we let them roam free I constantly have to search for the nests, they're also really sneaky and hide them too well; most of the time possums or dogs are the ones that find them (gets on my nerves ugh!)

 

[Poodle Lucy]

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.

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation!