Barred Rock broody in the cathouse, leave her?

tess36

Songster
8 Years
Jun 26, 2015
70
34
121
Central Virginia
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Hello everybody! I've not been on lately with keeping up with the small boys, but my flock has been doing great. We finally culled our WCBP rooster last Wednesday night after nine months of everybody telling us to. This morning I found my Barred Rock in my cat's house. She did not come when called and did not come for treats, which I broke out early today because I had noticed her missing in the head count. She *never* skips out on treats, even if it's just scratch.
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This what I just found after noticing her out eating and drinking. Those are obviously not all her eggs. So, should I just leave and see what happens? The cat has no predatory behavior towards the chickens, didn't even when they were chicks and ducklings. I can cordon off the area around the box and put food and water inside of it come hatch time to help protect them if need be. Is this common for multiple chickens to lay in a place other than their coop, and then have one of them adopt the broody role and hatch them all out? Also, is that too many eggs for her? Should I remove some, or just leave everything alone and see what 'shakes out?' She would be a first time mom and none of the other chickens have ever hatched any either, if that bears any significance. Thank you in advance for any input.
 
Thank you for responding! I was going to let her be, but she never returned to the eggs that I saw. I felt them about an hour after posting and they did not feel that warm to me. By tonight when I noted that she was in the coop and not on the eggs, I gathered up all eleven eggs so the cat could have her bed back!

The eggs are in the fridge, labeled so that I won't sell them, just in case there's a less than 'unappetizing' sight upon cracking.
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I guess she was just practicing.

I'm actually glad she wasn't truly broody. We are going on vacation the end of August and I was worried about trying to combine my flock and then leaving. My head SLW was pretty domineering to my ducks this past fall. I'd fear what she would do, being even bigger now. Plus, I wasn't really sure I wanted any offspring from that recently departed roo. We culled him for a reason!
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Yeah, that's what I thought too, but I freely admit I have *no* experience with letting my hens set. Neither do they, for that matter! As it turns out, I don't thing she was really broody. I will say that I think both blue eggs are from the same EE. Both she and the BR I thought were broody laid eggs in trash barrel last week before we covered it! Goofy birds.
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