What does it mean for a hen to broody?

[FluffyPuff]

What does it mean for a hen to go broody? Is this good or bad? I'm not looking to have chicks.... I can't have a rooster.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

When a hen goes broody she will not leave the nest excepting once per day to feed. She'll start to gather eggs to add to her clutch. Literally picking eggs up with wing or between head and neck to carry to her nest.

It's not good or bad it's just nature. Bad for you if you don't want her to hatch chicks and she'll stop laying eggs during her broody time. She'll stay broody until chicks hatch and are raised. The best way to break a broody is to put her in a cage in the run. Have food and water for her and raise the cage up on blocks so air gets to her bottom side. Three days of this should break her and she'll soon lay eggs again.

I have a hen that is hard to break. Would work for a week or two then right back broody. Finally gave her a small clutch and three weeks after they hatched she went broody again. I swear if it wasn't for fall and winter she'd be broody all year.

 

[earlybird10842]

They'll get it into their head to hatch chicks, and sit on the nest for twenty-one days or longer. The broodiness (How much/how stubbornly a hen goes broody) depends on the hen and the breed.

 

[realsis]

So true, the most broody breed is the silkie. They will hatch a rock if they could. Lol. What breed are your chicks? They don't need a rooster to go broody. It will just happen. I would like to mention most hatchery birds have had the brooding bread out of them.so If you need a broody I would get a silkie from a breeder. They are very broody.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

I just wrote about this on my blog today because so many people have no idea what I mean when I talk about broodiness. I tried to consolidate some of the information I've found about broodiness on BYC and other sites.

Here is the post if you are interested: http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/can-you-make-a-hen-go-broody/