Will she go broody?

[bobbi-j]

I have a banty hen who was a great broody last year. I kept her when we culled the other non-laying hens, hoping she'll hatch some babies for me again this year. DH brought up an interesting question that I hadn't thought of before - will she go broody if she's not laying? She hasn't laid all winter, is several years old, so I'm guessing that maybe she's done as a layer. Any thoughts or opinions?

 

[Grim]

this is just my experience, but it has been that a hen that gets broody once will again if they raise a brood. my best mammas will molt, then start to lay with the other hens, they may lay for a week or 2 then get broody. i try to breed my birds to be broody. i have a high turnover meat/eggs. so i tend to try to select for the trait. broody hens don't make it into the pot and i try to save the eggs from my best broody hens for hatching. you usually don't get many so other eggs make up the difference. i have had old hens that had quit laying and still raised 1 or 2 more broods. sadly they usually died from old age shortly afterward. age gets us all i suppose.

 

[sourland]

Most bantams are far more seasonal layers than production birds. She will lay again in the spring and once again she will go broody.

 

[bobbi-j]

Thanks for the replies, that's good to know! She was such a good mama last year, I'm looking forward to her raising some more babies this year. It was just something I hadn't thought of before...

 

[sourland]

Many bantams will lay a clutch, set, hatch and rear the chicks and repeat all over again as much as 4+ times/year.

 

[bobbi-j]

Wow! This one was only broody in the spring, but I left her babies with her to raise. Maybe that's why she didn't do it again. I replaced her eggs with standard-sized eggs. I can't wait to see how things go this spring, but it's still a LONG way off here in MN....

 

[phasianidae]

Many of my bantam hens(Silkies and OEGB) are now broody. Is your bantam hen broody yet?