Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

This is something I've always wondered about. I know certain breeds are broodier than others. Ive got two of the probably top 5 lol! I've witnessed hens going broody after hearing or seeing chicks (maybe that's just a coincidence-anybody else noticed that?) My real question is this: has anybody found that chicks raised by a broody tend to be broodier when they mature? Or do you think it's straight up genetics?

Its a woman thing. No one understands it.

Well as a woman you would think I would have some understanding but alas what Farrier said.

Hard to say for sure, but I'm convinced it's mostly, if not all, genetic. I've had incubator hatched girls that hatch 3 times a year, and broody raised girls that have never shown any desire to sit on eggs.
Production leghorns almost NEVER go broody, no matter how they were hatched, and when they do, they almost never stick it out long enough to hatch anything...but if you cross a leghorn that's shown some desire to brood with a broody breed, the pullet chicks mostly end up excellent mothers.
Some breeds 'go' very young, almost as soon as they start laying, and some like red sexlinks, show little or no desire until they're about 4 years old.
Also, it seems to be contagious lol if one goes down in a coop, next thing you know, there are 10 screaming hormone balls, but if a hen goes broody away from the rest (like the one I've got in my kitchen) then the rest keep laying until they're good and ready. In close quarters though, they fall like dominoes.

Well it definitely has to be in them genetically. I find the thing that will trigger a broody type hen is number of eggs under her, just forget to pick up eggs once or twice and boom, broody hens! However a large number of eggs will not trigger non broody type hens.

Take this year for example, my Easter egg bantams never wanted to hatch last year and I tried every trick in the book. I figured they were non broody type hens, so all my hens now from them I hatched in the incubator. Since fall the older hens wanted to hatch and now at this moment my egg numbers are dropping because when I go in half the girls are trying to hatch.

I guess it's a girl thing like you ladies said! Lol

The girl in my profile pic was raised by Little the Old English bantam. She is a jumper and a flyer because she imitated her "mother". She even roosts in the rafters. She's also the one that was obsessed with eggs and nesting boxes and chicks before she even started laying. I was afraid she'd be broody all winter. Once she started laying that all changed! She doesn't linger. Laying her daily egg is a job that she gets completed as quickly as possible so she can get on with things. That may change but so far she's showing no signs...not even a twinkle in her eye.
The other broody raised girl from last year is Baldy Stella. I pulled her out of a nesting box again tonight and she growled and spit. She's not committed but keeps being pulled back to the nesting box. She has relished laying her eggs from the get go and at 9months old she acts like a veteran. It's a half day process for her. My other 2 young girls were incubator hatched. They are terrified of Stella's egg commitment and just get away from her quickly. My broodiest of all is Little and she hatched in an incubator. Her mom Weezy brooded once but she wasn't very good at it and just screamed and ran when she saw chicks after that lol. Weezy was seriously the chicken version of me!