Before I had my own chickens, I believed hens were only broody with a rooster around. I thought they could distinguish a fertilized egg.
This is not the case.
Two facts:
1. The instinct to brood seems to dawn arbitrarily. Rooster or no.
2. Broody hens are not choosy. They just want to sit on eggs. Any eggs will do.
A lady in our hen house became violently broody last month. Literally violent. She was so insistent on sitting on a large clutch of eggs that she would attack if you approached. Her beak made a fearsome weapon, drawing blood, leaving no question of her stance.
Her stance was strict and crouched in a nesting box over the eggs of all her sisters; strict to the extent that we never saw her leave the spot unless manually forced (leather gloved and cautious). We began to wonder if she ever hungered or thirsted because she didn't seem to be doing anything to satiate her needs. Maybe she would rot over the eggs, waiting hopelessly for a hatchling.
The violence was taken too far when she drew Gerret's blood one afternoon. Something had to be done. My idea was to eat her. Or get a rooster. PTB researched other ideas. The internet supplied some viable options. As a first attempt, he separated Broody from the other chickens and their eggs for a few days. It cured her. Until next time.
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