Breaking Brood

My first attempt to stop Tallulah from sitting on eggs in hopes they hatch. A hen will gather eggs for 6 days and keep them for 21 days under her soft fluffy chest and hatch them. She is a cross between a RIR and leghorn. I want to stop because I collect the eggs every afternoon and we don't have a rooster so the eggs will never hatch! And they don't lay eggs during this process.

I placed deli containers filled with ice in the spots where she is sitting and put tasty treats in the run: blueberries, sunflower kernels and shovels full of dirt from the yard that contained bugs and worms. I had to pick her up and place her on the ground. She stayed out long enough to eat some food and drink some water then she went right back in. I placed her out a couple more times last night. First attempt I would call a fail, but worth doing to see her drink and eat.

My first broody hen

Tallulah, puffed up and looking like a turkey.

Here's the story; one of our hens was not laying and someone suggest I play rooster crowing noises for her to "get her going". So Friday a.m. I found some great roosters on u-tube and played it for her. She seemed to look interested for a min or two then went about her business. That night, Tallulauh, one of my best layers went broody. Coincidence, or do you think the rooster triggered her to want to hatch some eggs? She s been broadly now for a few days and I take the eggs away from her in a timely manner in hopes she will snap out of it soon.

 

How many eggs do 4 chickens lay in 1 month?

I kept track of my 4 backyard chickens for the month of May. The total was 105! I would not have guessed that many because they get used so fast. The Red Star layed the most, she only took 1 day off the whole month.