Egg Eating

[ninnymary]

I finally hung up a black curtain towel in front of the nest boxes. I'm hoping this will work. We have a new Michaels that just opened but they didn't have any wooden or ceramic eggs. I figured they will have them at Easter time. Checked on Amazon and I don't want to pay $10 for 6.

If fake eggs are there, will this cause them to go broody? Just wondering.

Mary

 

[baymule]

I had a few hens go broody this summer and they sat on an empty nest box.

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't know, but I don't think the presence of eggs is what triggers broodiness Mary. I think it's more of an internal genetic thing.
Hopefully Ridge will tell us, I'm sure he knows.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No Thistle, I don't know. I wish I did. I don't think there is a clear yes or no answer. Something triggers those broody hormones to kick in. I don't know what it is but, yes, it is genetic. Some hens will go broody, some won't, and that can be passed down by genetics. Breed has an influence but any hen can go broody regardless of breed.

I've tried several times to get a hen to go broody by leaving fake eggs or real eggs in the nest, increasing it one egg a day until I hit a dozen. Nope, no broody hens. I always leave one golf ball in the nest. I've had several hens go broody with that one golf ball in the nest. I generally collect all the real eggs every day. I don't want snakes to find a treat if they happen to visit at night.

One time I had someone taking care of the chickens when I went to visit my granddaughter. She would not take the eggs. Silly woman! I told her to take all of them. When I got back the nests were full of eggs and two hens were acting like they were broody, sitting on the nests at night. I got back well after dark. I threw the eggs away the next morning and left just one golf ball. Both hens quit acting broody and continued to lay eggs. Maybe if I'd left the eggs they would have kicked over to broody mode? I don't know.

This summer every one of my hens went broody, some more than once, with just that one golf ball in there. One time early in the summer I piled up the golf balls in one nest. A hen went broody in a different nest! You're dealing with a female and her hormones!!! Who can tell what will happen!!!

Mary I think if a hen is thinking about going broody a bunch of eggs in the nest might help trigger those broody hormones to kick in. But she has to be thinking about it first. I don't think leaving fake eggs in there will cause one to go broody unless she is thinking about it anyway. Since many hens go broody on empty nests, I don't know that there is a magic number that would cause one to kick over to broody mode, but I don't think one or two is much of a risk.

I know you have great weather out there about now, but this time of year with the shorter days a hen is less likely to go broody anyway.

 

[Smart Red]

My results pretty much mimic @Ridgerunner's. I have one hen who went broody three times this spring with nary an egg to sit on. I have another that did brood two chicks early this spring and then tried the broody trick in mid October with no eggs.

Eggs or not, a hen will go broody in her own good time. Nothing we can do (that I've found) will convince her YOU want her brooding. It seems that I have two hens that will brood out of my seven layers. Now, how to get them broody in my own good time!

There's another huge government grant I'd like to apply for -- how to encourage hens to brood. Does chicken pornography help or hinder the process? I could make that work.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Smart Red I tried a Kentucky Fried poster once. Did not work.

 

[Smart Red]

Work on chickens?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nope, that Kentucky Fried poster did not get them to start laying or to go broody, no matter how much I threatened them with it.

 

[ninnymary]

Thanks you guys. I don't want anyone to go broody! So, I'll rest easy if I ever find those darn eggs.

Mary

 

[so lucky]

Mary, golf balls work just fine to encourage the chickens to use the nest boxes, or as in your case, probably to discourage egg-eating. I have had chickens for 3.5 years, and have never had one go broody.
The red sex-link does not surprise me, but Easter eggers, Plymouth rock and Sussex? Nope. Nada.