How To Encourage A Hen To Go Broody
I previously posted asking if anyone had any suggestions on how to make a hen go broody. I got some helpful answers, and did some research, and found a few suggestions:
- leave eggs in the nest
- put golf balls in the nest, so she thinks they’re eggs
- set up a nice quiet nest in a darkened, sheltered corner of the coop
The nest where this chicken was laying was already in a dark corner of the chook house, so I just put some golf balls in there. Sure enough, she thought they were eggs and started sitting on them! It took about 2 days for her to get ‘in the mood’.
I had been keeping aside the eggs from all our chickens for a few days, hoping that I might be able to put them under her if I could get her to sit.
Interesting aside: you can keep eggs at room temperature for up to 10 days, and they’ll still start to develop if you then put them in an incubator or under a chicken. This is why baby chicks hatch all on the same day, even though mother hens only lay one egg per day. Development doesn’t start until the last egg of the batch is laid and the hen begins sitting on them.
Once she was settled, I replaced the golf balls with the reserved eggs. She’s been happily sitting on them ever since. I’ve even seen other hens climb into the nest with her, lay an egg, and she pulls it under herself to join the others! I’m not sure what she’s going to think when her chicks come out all different colours 
.
It should be about 3 weeks now until the eggs hatch. I’ll post updates as things progress.
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Yay! I’m still gathering data on how to convince my town to let me have a few chickens, so I live vicariously through others stories.
Hi Darren, Good Job, I still have a couple of broody hens. They are driving me up the wall… I got some turkies in a small cage. Once they are gone if the girls are still broody i will have to buy some fertile eggs off you to put under them..
I put some eggs into the dapto show and got a 2nd prize for them. I was most cuffed…
Donna
@Jen: Good luck! There seems to be a lot of towns/cities around the world that don’t allow the keeping of chickens. Thankfully, this is changing. Keep pestering them, and get like-minded locals to do the same. Talk to the newspapers etc as well, and get some public pressure happening! Good luck!
@Donna: Congratulations! You can now truthfully advertise “the second-best eggs in Dapto”
. Once my Brahma pullets start to lay (how much longer can it be?!), I can get you some purebred Brahma eggs. They’re a lovely-looking chook, and very subdued and friendly. I’ll even take the young roosters back if you can’t keep them.
My suggestion for making a hen go broody? Don’t bother with the hen you’ve got–get a Buff Orpington. Mine just loves to go broody a few times per year. She’s the sweetest pet, very friendly and lays good eggs (when she lays) but she takes several long breaks each year.
@Kelly: This hen is prone to broodiness several times per year, it’s just that she wasn’t broody at that time. The golf ball trick worked in the end. If I was going to buy a hen specifically for brooding, a bantam is hard to beat. They’re great little mothers.
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