When did YOUR hen go broody?

[Ntsees]

There is also that issue. Silkies will go broody at the drop of a hat, and I've yet to have a leghorn go broody at all. The three I have that are broody right now are all 50% Ameraucana bantam/50% Mille Fleur bantam. So it probably does depend a bit on breed.

As for animals determining weather, they do. And like I said, people with old injuries do, too. If you've ever broken a bone, they say it feels different when it rains. If you ever see a flock of wild birds flying very fast and very close to obstacles (like a blue angel in an air show) it's because the weather conditions are changing and they sense it. I'm not saying these animals PREDICT weather, but they feel the effects of the change, just like we do. We can "smell" when it's about to rain. Geese migrate for the winter but somehow get out before it's cold - how do they know? I live in Georgia, and you will only see lizards, turtles, and similar creatures during the summer, even though many winter days are just as warm (82 degrees on New Year's for instance). Why? How do dogs and cats know to shed for the summer and grow thicker fur for winter before they actually NEED it? Why do horses (domestic and wild) tend to give birth when it's raining?

Animals DO know the weather and it does affect them. They aren't running around with umbrellas and snowshoes (NO that is NOT meant as an idea for chicken fashion) but they can feel the change just as we do. They aren't telling us what will happen in a week or three like our meteorologists do, but they know when change is already happening and it's already here. And so do their bodies.

If I were to cull a hen (from a breed that lays an egg everyday) for dinner and while cleaning it up, I find that there are 6 developing yolk embryos. Are you saying that in the next 6 days (assuming that a hen will start sitting on her eggs after she's laid all her eggs), it'll rain afterwards?

 

[LTygress]

If I were to cull a hen (from a breed that lays an egg everyday) for dinner and while cleaning it up, I find that there are 6 developing yolk embryos. Are you saying that in the next 6 days (assuming that a hen will start sitting on her eggs after she's laid all her eggs), it'll rain afterwards?

Where in the world did you get that idea from? Not by far!

I'm saying it seems that they go broody around the time it rains. Plain and simple.

I'm not saying it has anything what so ever to do with the number of eggs in the nest, or how many of them got fertilized. And last I checked, embryos didn't actually start developing until the egg was laid and sat on anyway. Hens also lay infertile eggs and sit on them too. I'm saying there might be a link between WHEN they go broody, and whether or not it's raining around that time. I'm not sure where you got the "six embryos, six days of rain" thing. I haven't said anything even close to that, and I'm stunned right now in trying to figure out where that idea even came from.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had a black leghorn that went broody often and raised 3 broods for me.

I know about 15 minutes before the first raindrop. The bees quit flying out of the hive and it's like rush hour coming back into the hive

 

[Ntsees]

Where in the world did you get that idea from? Not by far!

I'm saying it seems that they go broody around the time it rains. Plain and simple.

I'm not saying it has anything what so ever to do with the number of eggs in the nest, or how many of them got fertilized. And last I checked, embryos didn't actually start developing until the egg was laid and sat on anyway. Hens also lay infertile eggs and sit on them too. I'm saying there might be a link between WHEN they go broody, and whether or not it's raining around that time. I'm not sure where you got the "six embryos, six days of rain" thing. I haven't said anything even close to that, and I'm stunned right now in trying to figure out where that idea even came from.

If a hen still has more eggs to lay and it rained (assuming that she goes broody with the rain), do you think she'll start sitting on her eggs even though she has more eggs to lay?

What I know is that a hen will start to become broody after she's laid all her eggs. Wild birds do the same. The hens I raise show signs of being broody the day of or the day before the last egg will be laid. They don't actually start sitting on them until that last egg is laid. It does not rain at that time. And the "6 yolk 6 days" was just an example that I was trying to make (and thinking ahead), linking (1) broody-ness, (2) when the last egg is laid, and (3) when it's going to rain (which I didn't make the link very well).

 

[LTygress]

I don't think they go broody "after laying all of their eggs". Who's to say they have no more eggs? They start laying after raising chicks. Where do those eggs come from? A hen isn't finished with her reproductive life just because she goes broody. And I don't think a laying hen builds up a huge cache of eggs inside her body to lay all in one season. I haven't studied them enough to say that for certain, but how do you explain the breeds that tend to lay year round? That's a HUGE cache of eggs resting inside her body!!

And what about hens that "break" broodiness? They start laying again immediately as well.

I think that much like human females, hens have an ongoing process in their body that develops eggs for laying. And a chemical change in hormones merely STOPS that process, similar to how a pregnant woman's body stops releasing eggs from her ovaries. The process is merely on hold when a hen goes broody.

 

[Ntsees]

...I haven't studied them enough to say that for certain, but how do you explain the breeds that tend to lay year round?...

Breeds that lay year-round are chickens that have been selected to do so (human selection). In their original state, they don't do that.

I think that much like human females, hens have an ongoing process in their body that develops eggs for laying. And a chemical change in hormones merely STOPS that process, similar to how a pregnant woman's body stops releasing eggs from her ovaries. The process is merely on hold when a hen goes broody.

I don't think I ever said that hens will never have any more eggs. It's just like you said that their egg-laying is on hold (which is the time when they become broody) until their clutch has hatched and grown.

 

[LTygress]

Even seasonal chickens still have the ability to produce and lay year-round. They simply don't when the weather... changes.

Since you just mentioned the cycle gets put on hold, then they don't really "lay all of their eggs", and thus they DO have the ability to go broody when it rains. Any eggs remaining inside the hen's body, merely wait until the hormones start up again (after hatching and raising chicks) telling her to lay again.

 

[Ntsees]

If you are very interested and pretty sure that hens go broody when it rains, it's fine and you're entitled to your opinion. The best way to find out is to experiment it out yourself with many other chicken breeds. I recommend you try breeds that are known to be exceptionally good mothers (don't you just like seeing a mother hen with her day old chicks?) such as game hens or bantams (e.g. bbr, silkies). Don't bother with breeds that lay ~365 eggs a year round because those make the worst mothers. And if you want to expand to other birds, try pigeons and question why they lay only about 2 eggs each nesting time after which they'll move on to nest again once the squabs are old enough. Whether you are right or wrong, only you will know the true answer.

 

[brairgirl]

We just had a Barred Rock hen go broody right before it start pooring(sp?) down rain.