What's so bad about broody hens?

[alpinewelsummer]

Just curious, as I see a lot of people dreading broody hens, looking for non-broody breeds when choosing breeds, and looking for solutions on how to stop broody behavior.. why do people dread broody hens so much? Does it make it harder to gather eggs?

 

[SnootyHen]

They're mean and hog the nesting boxes which ticks off the other hens.

 

[Mellowmalt]

I suppose it has to do with egg laying, a good egg laying breed will lay 300 eggs a year, an average breed will lay about 200, if it goes broody on top then it will stop laying eggs for a least a month so you end up with 175 eggs instead. which is nearly half of what a good egg laying breed will produce that doesn't go broody.
I can never eat all my eggs so to me it isn't an issue but there is no real advantage as if wanting to hatch eggs an incubator is more reliable and safer to use than a broody so it's just them sitting around wasting energy not laying any eggs.

 

[neo71665]

I'm in the same camp as you as I could care less if one goes broody. But as pointed out if egg production is your concern then them going broody does hurt that.

 

[Halfpasthen]

It's also not ideal if you can't or don't want to hatch babies. You can't very well let a hen stay broody half starving herself indefinitely. So you HAVE to break them if they go broody.

 

[DobieLover]

more reliable and safer to use than a broody

Huh?
I would rather a broody hen set, hatch and raise the chicks any time. Excluding one infertile egg and one botched broody management on my part, I've had 100% hatch rates under them.

To answer the OPs question: nothing is wrong with them. But having one after the other go broody and having to break them is not fun.
They will stop laying for at about 2 to 3 months, during the time until you figure out she's broody, the incubation period and the time she spends raising her brood.

 

[HollyBerrie]

Broody hens are great if you want more chicks, as they do all of the work (mostly), and the chicks are integrated into the flock with the mother.

Once I have enough chicks that have grown into hens, continuing to have broody hens are not desirable. They either have to be broken, or let them hatch eggs. I just let them hatch eggs, and now have too many chickens and eggs.

Now, I haven't had a broody chicken hen in 2 years. Yay! It's a different story with muscovies.

 

[janiedoe]

Nothing, Imho, is bad about broody hens! Well almost nothing, I have several and they are over populating the barnyard.

 

[NatJ]

Just curious, as I see a lot of people dreading broody hens, looking for non-broody breeds when choosing breeds, and looking for solutions on how to stop broody behavior.. why do people dread broody hens so much? Does it make it harder to gather eggs?

Reasons to dislike broody hens:

--A broody hen does not lay eggs while she is broody.

--A broody hen sits in the nestbox, and may get in the way of other hens wanting to lay.

--A broody hen eats less and loses weight, and people get worried about her (most will be fine, but a few stupid hens will sit on the nest and starve to death, rather than come off to eat enough each day.)

--Breaking the broodiness is an extra step to fuss with.

--If you don't break the broodiness, the hen will keep sitting for weeks or occasionally months. She will not lay eggs again until some weeks after she quits being broody.

On the other hand, broody hens are great if you like to have them hatch eggs and raise chicks.

 

[neo71665]

Huh?
I would rather a broody hen set, hatch and raise the chicks any time. Excluding one infertile egg and one botched broody management on my part, I've had 100% hatch rates under them.

To answer the OPs question: nothing is wrong with them. But having one after the other go broody and having to break them is not fun.
They will stop laying for at about 2 to 3 months, during the time until you figure out she's broody, the incubation period and the time she spends raising her brood.

I'm with ya there. I've had much better luck letting mother nature do what was intended.