Will broody pullets lay eggs?

[mustangsaguaro]

I have one pullet that started going broody on me yesterday. She first started laying in mid Dec. First week I got 5 eggs from her, 2nd week 6 eggs, and the last 2 or 3 weeks I've gotten 7 eggs from her (1 egg/day). This week I've gotten 2 eggs from her. I count a week from Sun to Sat. So, I got an egg from her on Sunday and Monday. No egg today. I noticed yesterday she started acting broody as she didn't want to get out of the nest. She laid an egg in there and my RIR laid an egg in there and I took both eggs away. I have had a fake easter egg in there and had to remove that one too. Last night she spent the night in the nest. This morning she got out when I let everyone out for the day. Then tonight when I went to put everyone to bed she was still in the nest and my RIR was sitting in there w/ her. Because she is acting broody I pulled her out and put her on the roost w/ her other buddies. Hopefully I won't find her back in the nest in the morning. Anyways, what can I do to break her of being broody and start laying again? How long will a hen/pullet act broody for? Will they be broody even if there are no eggs in the nest?

Thanks

 

[seminolewind]

I, too, would like to know. If a hen is broody, how does she know how many to lay until she sits on them and doesn't lay anymore?

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

On breaking a broody, Dawn had a thread here with steps to take that worked for her https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20384 Or you can do a a search on "breaking a broody".

i have a silkie hen who has been broody for maybe 2-3 weeks now. Just taking her out of the nest box every day did nothing to break her, so just gave her some fertile hatching eggs. i marked them all well, as she is still laying. Every day i am peeking under and pulling out her own eggs.

For the past several weeks, she has been broody every single day no matter if she has eggs under her or not. If it was possible to hatch from straw and fir shavings, we would now be awash in chicks. So, if you don't want to throw hatching eggs under her, you probably want to follow the suggestions in the above link.

Good luck!

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Never got an answer--anyone?

 

[rooster-red]

My broody layed 2 eggs the first full week she was broody, then no more.

 

[Charlie Chicken]

Quote:
When the hen has gone broody she is either in the process of or has already shut down her egg production.

She is acting on pure instinct. When she decides to go broody it doesn't matter if there are 12 eggs, 5 eggs, 1 egg or no eggs. Instinct tells her that she should be hatching eggs.

How long they remain broody if left on their own with no eggs under them varies widely between different hens. Some will give up after a short time and some will remain broody for weeks before giving up.

Repeatedly removing the hen from the nest will often discourage them. Caging them without a nest will usually work but at that point they have already shut down their egg production.

The degree of broodiness (how strong the instinct is) can vary a lot with different breeds, different strains within a breed and with individual hens. Some hens will seem to constantly revert to going broody and some hens will never go broody.

 

[littlelemon]

Will a pullet go broody if she hasn't been mated?

We DO have a roo, and I am hoping to hatch out some chicks at some point, but I really haven't noticed a lot of mating action going on. We have 7 hens and one roo and the roo is about 5 months old. I have seen him mount the older hens but nothing happened there, and I have never seen him even try to mount the pullets. So I guess I actually have 2 questions-
Will a pullet go broody if she hasn't been mated AND
How old does a rooster need to be to "do the deed"?

 

[Charlie Chicken]

A pullet could go broody at any time her instinct to set on eggs kicks in. Some sooner, some later, some often and some never do.

She can go broody even though she has never seen or heard of a rooster. It is her built in instinct and the act of egg laying rather than any influence she might gain from having a rooster in the flock.

A rooster achieves maturity any time after 5 months of age. If eggs are saved for hatching its a good idea to let the rooster mature a bit longer so that his fertility will improve. They sometimes need a little practice before they manage to figure it all out.

 

[kezabel]

And how long after they have gone broody, hatched some chicks, when will they lay again? My hen has got 3 chicks that are 8 weks old now so when will she start to lay again?