Has she gone broody?

Flossiej · « **on:** July 28, 2011, 22:11 »

Have a small problem with our head girl. She has been laying every day and always before midday. Today she was in the nesting box for hours sitting on everyone else's eggs but had not laid her own. I removed all the other eggs and left her there for another hour then lifted her out and closed the coop. After a couple of hours I opened the coop again and she went straight back in. I went out for my evening run and when I came back she was still inside. I lifted her out and she had laid her daily egg for me however she had a quick drink and then went right back inside again. Tonight she is asleep in the nesting box.

She had been a bit stroppy with the smaller hen the day before and kept picking on her. Do you think she has gone broody or is this just her being a bit grouchy?

Help!

joyfull · « **Reply #1 on:** July 29, 2011, 12:08 »

sounds broody to me, does she fluff up as well when you put your hands near her?

daisy1990 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 29, 2011, 12:13 »

classic signs of going broody, one of ours does it regularly! She may also pull out feathers to line her nest which can look alarming and may start to become a little aggressive when you try to lift her off the nest. If you dont want her to hatch chickens I would personally leave her alone, they come out of it after a few days normally and as long as they eat and drink no harm comes to them. The only problem we have is she sometimes wont let the others in to lay and we find eggs in the main coop

Flossiej · « **Reply #3 on:** July 29, 2011, 18:35 »

Yes she does fluff herself up and try's to peck you when I try and lift her and she does hog the nesting box although there is another box but the one she is in is their favourite. I have found one egg laid in the coop, obviously someone couldn't wait any longer! However I have just got home and she is wandering around the run quite happy so maybe she has got over herself and decided that she wants some company tonight. We shall see how it goes over the weekend. I don't want her to hatch any eggs so I was reassured by your comments daisy. She is definitely mother hen and top of the pecking order so perhaps she will do this from time to time. Thanks again to you both.

daisy1990 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 29, 2011, 19:23 »

you are welcome- its just one of the joys of hen keeping!

Flossiej · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2011, 22:19 »

Ok so after having our head girl go broody (she is still broody) she has now got her second in command keeping her company in the same nesting box showing all the signs of broody behaviour. Both have stopped laying but are allowing the other three girls to lay in the nesting boxes and then happily sit on their eggs for them. We lift the two culprits ( no pecking us now) and remove the eggs every day and put the girls out to get some food and water and they have a little preen and shake their feathers but are soon back in the nesting box where they stage their sit in all night as well.

I am hoping their recruitment drive doesn't extend to the other three but as our head girl has been broody for nearly three weeks now, I am wondering how much longer it will carry on. Is this normal for them to go broody for so long without hatching eggs? I don't really want to intervene too much as they are both quite well and eating and drinking when they are encouraged to and don't appear to have lost weight. It's just that they are missing out on all the nicer weather. Any tips?

daisy1990 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 12, 2011, 09:39 »

Our hen can take up to three weeks to return to normal behaviour. Others suggest dunking their bottoms in cold water to shock them out of it, or to keep them in a separate wire bottom cage (rabbit cage type of thing) so that the cold air cools them down. I have never tried either as I think being broody is a natural process that they come out of in their own time

Flossiej · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2011, 10:01 »

Ok thanks again Daisy, will let her get on with it then. I agree it's giving her body a rest from laying every day but am surprised as they are all hybrids and didn't think they went broody very often. Will keep you posted.

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Has she gone broody?

Flossiej

Has she gone broody?

joyfull

Re: Has she gone broody?

daisy1990

Re: Has she gone broody?

Flossiej

Re: Has she gone broody?

daisy1990

Re: Has she gone broody?

Flossiej

Re: Has she gone broody? Update

daisy1990

Re: Has she gone broody?

Flossiej

Re: Has she gone broody?

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