what exactly does "going broody" mean?...

[redhen]

i think it has to do with a hen wanting to hatch her eggs.?...but...what does it mean for ME..as in...will she attack when i try to collect the eggs?..etc...also..will they only go broody if there is a rooster around?..sorry for another dumb question..

....but i'm just not exactly sure what it means...thanks..Wendy

 

[coopist]

Rooster-red has a great video of his broodies on youtube. It might help:

Edited to add: they'll go broody with no rooster, but obviously they can't hatch anything.

 

[Chirpy]

Wendy - there are no dumb questions except, maybe, the one's you don't ask.

A broody hen is when a girl decides she wants to sit on and hatch eggs. She can go broody whether there is a Rooster or not. However, unless there was a Rooster with her the eggs won't be fertile and thus cannot hatch.

You can get fertile eggs from someone elses chickens and put them under your broody to hatch. Broodies will even hatch other fowls eggs (ducks, etc.)

She will sit on the eggs until they hatch (normally 21 days) and then raise the chicks. Most broody mommas are very attentive to their young, sometimes you get one that just doesn't get it though.

If you don't have fertile eggs and don't want to hatch any then you can either let her sit on nothing or try and get her out of being broody (not easy to do from what I've learned). The best way seems to be to put a broody hen in a wire dog type kennel with no nesting material just food and water. After a week or so she should give up and snap out of it.

 

[seminolewind]

I think its pretty weird. Mine seems like she's in a trance like state.

 

[redhen]

huh...very interesting...so..when they are broody...do they STILL lay eggs?...or just sit on the clutch?...thanks guys for the help!...Thanks,Wendy
seminolewind..i notice you live in florida...if i remember right the seminoles were from the area i lived in, when i lived in florida..i lived in manatee county...just curious if that is the area where the seminoles are from?..Wendy

 

[FarmGirl01]

I have a few broodies sitting on fertile eggs. I really like the attitude change they go thru. At first the hens are real mean. Trying to bite, growl just plain mean. But in a few days they just fluff up and purr at me. In about a week or so I will candle the eggs and get rid of the infertle ones. By the time the eggs hatch we have a nice relationship. Thats good for the chicks too.

 

[Chirpy]

redhen - No, once a broody starts sitting she will stop laying eggs until sometime after the chicks are born. (I've heard it takes a few weeks, maybe a month for to start laying again .... I have no personal experience with that yet.)

That is one of the reasons that some people don't want their hens to go broody, they lose those precious eggs.

 

[rooster-red]

Check out my youtube video on broody hens:

 

[redhen]

thanks very much everyone...appreciate it very much!..thanks, Wendy