What does "occasionally broody" mean?

[Daisy8s]

You are correct about broodiness. Broody hens will "borrow" any eggs laid by other chickens, hence the need to keep removing eggs from under them. The broodies themselves aren't laying while in the zone.

Huh, well, I guess this demonstrates the variability among breeds. My two hens prone to broodiness always kept laying. Yes, they'd borrow eggs from the other layers but they'd also lay one of their own eggs every day.

For days, even weeks in a row, I remove the eggs from under her and she eventually leaves the nest, only to return the next morning to repeat. She'd like to keep those eggs, her whole demeanor has changed and I have to ward off pecks when I get the eggs, but, so long as I remove them she doesn't go into the deep trance of broodiness.

Then, when I want her to start a clutch I stop removing the eggs. At that point she does quit laying and within a couple days she's deep in her trance.

My point is that I've never had a bird going into deep broodiness on an empty nest. I think it'd be time to cull any bird that would sit on an empty nest and not lay.

 

[Daisy8s]

I think that the reason a broody hen is not something you want to encourage is this. Unless you have a rooster and actual eggs that you want her to hatch out, being broody is very hard on a hen. She has a very strong instinct to keep that clutch of eggs warm and protected. She will usually only come off the nest once per day for about 15 min. to eat, drink and defecate. It is a physical strain on a potential mama hen. If there are no fertilized eggs to hatch, It is just not something that you want to encourage your hen to do. Now I have never had a hen go broody on me, but if one did, I would definitely help her to come out of her broodiness just for the simple fact that I want her to be able to eat, drink, and forage since we don't have a rooster, and that is a lot of undue stress on a hen's body.

Kelly

Kelly, I'm saying this with all gentleness and kindness intended but your comment demonstrates a disturbing trend I see here on BYC. There's a lot of advice passed around that is pure heresay. People who have never actually experienced things speak like experts when they're only repeating rumors.

I appreciate that you were trying to add information, and I really appreciate the fact that you owned up to the fact that you had no real experience. It's just that this forum has become incredibly unreliable for this very reason. Your comments above were partially correct, but not wholly. You cannot know this, however, because you're only repeating the partial information you received from someone else...and so it goes.

Awhile ago someone suggested that everyone list their years of experience along with their location and, provided people were truthful, I think that'd be really useful. I don't recommend BYC to anyone new to chickens anymore because of all the advice floating around that may be based on no actual experience.

 

[Keltara]

Kelly, I'm saying this with all gentleness and kindness intended but your comment demonstrates a disturbing trend I see here on BYC. There's a lot of advice passed around that is pure heresay. People who have never actually experienced things speak like experts when they're only repeating rumors.

I appreciate that you were trying to add information, and I really appreciate the fact that you owned up to the fact that you had no real experience. It's just that this forum has become incredibly unreliable for this very reason. Your comments above were partially correct, but not wholly. You cannot know this, however, because you're only repeating the partial information you received from someone else...and so it goes.

Awhile ago someone suggested that everyone list their years of experience along with their location and, provided people were truthful, I think that'd be really useful. I don't recommend BYC to anyone new to chickens anymore because of all the advice floating around that may be based on no actual experience.

I am not offended by what you said and appreciate what you have to say, but I am curious of what I was incorrect about? I have actually done research on this part of chicken keeping (not just BYC). I thought the information I had was correct, so I am truly curious as to where I was misled? I'd appreciate your input (especially when a rooster is not in the picture). Thank you.

 

[Daisy8s]

Your technical description of how the broody behaves was correct but the assumption that this would always cause stress on the broody is false. There are some hens that raise clutches 2, 3, even 4 times a year, year after year.

That's why I said it was partial information. (Now, granted, there's a huge variety in breeds and housing methods so it is possible someone witnessed a broody losing weight and appearing stressed by the process--but it isn't universally true.)

 

[Keltara]

Your technical description of how the broody behaves was correct but the assumption that this would always cause stress on the broody is false. There are some hens that raise clutches 2, 3, even 4 times a year, year after year.

That's why I said it was partial information. (Now, granted, there's a huge variety in breeds and housing methods so it is possible someone witnessed a broody losing weight and appearing stressed by the process--but it isn't universally true.)

Okay. I totally agree that if a hen is brooding over a clutch of eggs that are actually going to hatch, that there is no problem with that. My earlier comment was about when a chicken goes broody, and there is no rooster involved, and no chance to actually hatch out eggs. I still believe that if you have a hen in that situation, that helping her out of her broodieness is the best course of action. When I spoke of stress on a hen's body, I feel it is an accurate account when there nothing that will come of setting on eggs for weeks, and all for what? I would much rather see my "roosterless" hens free ranging rather than let her set for nothing. I never really mentioned anything about chickens losing weight (although that is quite common), but being broody does take a toll on a chicken (and it is part of what they are designed for!), but to me, it's pointless when there will be no babies. Thank you for your insight.

 

[Bawkingham]

I had two broody hens this past summer and since I didn't have a rooster I got eggs from a friend and 6 of 8 hatched. That was the first time I had used a hen to hatch and now I'm hooked. I'm not gonna go overboard and ware her out, but probably going to hatch 2 times a year.