What is Broody?
It isn’t contagious, at least not for you. It’s just a hen trying to be a mother. Broody refers to her trying to hatch eggs – her future brood of chicks. Having a broody hen occurs more often in breeds that are identified as good mothers. The Black Australorp and Buff Orpington are known for these traits. Silkies too are known to be quite broody and will often be raised as a bird to sit on the eggs of other birds that are desirable, but not good at hatching their own eggs. When a hen is broody, she’ll sit on her eggs day and night for about three weeks, only leaving the nest occasionally to get food and water. She knows (or thinks) it’s her job to hatch the eggs, and that’s exactly what she stays focused on. So what is the big deal about a broody hen? Well, nothing really, except that she doesn’t lay eggs when she’s broody. And, she’ll get other hens to follow suit. That means your egg production is cut back to the extent that your hens think it’s time to hatch eggs. While sitting on t
