Encouraging a broody

[my21chickens]

hi all! I have a hen who has been a great broody to us. She's a black australorp and goes broody more than any of our other hens. She's been acting borderline broody for the past couple of days (this will be the first for the year). Shes been plucking her stomach feathers, sitting for a few hours in the nesting boxes, growling, etc. the normal beginning signs, but not all the time. sometimes she's broody, sometimes shes out and about. i started collecting a clutch for her, am I too early? i only started yesterday and i don't want to waste a bunch of perfectly good eggs if its too early. shes raised chicks before and was a great mother so I trust her. is there anyway to encourage her to become fully broody?
thanks!!

 

[fluffycrow]

If she has prior experience, I’d be inclined to think that has her routine mostly figured out.

Fertility doesn’t really drop until day 10 or so, at which point she would have gathered more than enough eggs to sit on. Letting her build her own clutch in the nest of her choice is probably the best thing you can do for her right now; she’ll know when it’s time to sit full time, having built up the appropriate fat reserves, as well as a clutch size she’s happy with

 

[Ridgerunner]

To encourage her to go broody without risking eggs I'd add one or two fake eggs to her nest every day. I use golf balls but you can get ceramic or wooden eggs. My test to see if she is ready for eggs is that she needs to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot.

How many eggs do you want her to hatch? I'll assume 12 just to have a number. I'd lay out two egg cartons and collect the eggs in them. Always add the new ones to the end. Once you collect 12, start eating the first you collected as you add new ones. That way you will always have fresh eggs ready to set when she does go broody, if she does. You don't waste any.

I don't like leaving eggs in the nest or overnight. You don't know how old they are, one might get accidentally broken, or you might get a visit from an egg eating predator. I like to use fake eggs to reduce the risk.

Good luck with her.

 

[my21chickens]

To encourage her to go broody without risking eggs I'd add one or two fake eggs to her nest every day. I use golf balls but you can get ceramic or wooden eggs. My test to see if she is ready for eggs is that she needs to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot.

How many eggs do you want her to hatch? I'll assume 12 just to have a number. I'd lay out two egg cartons and collect the eggs in them. Always add the new ones to the end. Once you collect 12, start eating the first you collected as you add new ones. That way you will always have fresh eggs ready to set when she does go broody, if she does. You don't waste any.

I don't like leaving eggs in the nest or overnight. You don't know how old they are, one might get accidentally broken, or you might get a visit from an egg eating predator. I like to use fake eggs to reduce the risk.

Good luck with her.

I have the ceramic eggs bu only two of them. thank you!

 

[my21chickens]

If she has prior experience, I’d be inclined to think that has her routine mostly figured out.

Fertility doesn’t really drop until day 10 or so, at which point she would have gathered more than enough eggs to sit on. Letting her build her own clutch in the nest of her choice is probably the best thing you can do for her right now; she’ll know when it’s time to sit full time, having built up the appropriate fat reserves, as well as a clutch size she’s happy with

thank you! my only concern is that I don't want to to build her clutch in the coop as I have a separate broody coop(where she had her chicks in last time)

 

[my21chickens]

any idea when she'll be fully ready? about how long? i gotta say its been a while since having a broody, lol. I'm a bit rusty I suppose

 

[Ridgerunner]

any idea when she'll be fully ready? about how long? i gotta say its been a while since having a broody, lol. I'm a bit rusty I suppose

Some hens flip a switch overnight. Some may go for two weeks and never flip that switch. With living animals you don't get guarantees. Each one is an individual.