Is my hen broody?

[mountainchickens]

Hi everyone!
We have a seven month old pullet who has recently started laying, six weeks or so ago. She is in a flock with two roosters her age, one of whom has been trying to mate with her pretty regularly. On Thursday, she got in the nesting box in the evening and was still there the next morning. She went out for an hour or two in the afternoon, then returned to the nesting box. (She'd laid an egg on Thursday but we had collected it, I think she still thought it was there.) This morning, she spread her wings, flared out her feathers and pecked at my hand when I tried to reach into the nesting box. Is she broody? If so, is there any way to break the broodiness? We'd have chicks again, but our coop isn't big enough. Thanks!

 

[Perris]

sounds like she is. There are lots of articles and discussions about broodiness, how to break it, encourage it etc., have a look in the learning centre or search the fora and read those that seem closest to your particular situation. Good luck with her!

 

[mountainchickens]

Thank you! I'll look. We gave her a few eggs today and she tucked them under her! We are thinking of putting day-old sex-links under her in a week or two, if we have room for a few more chicks. Thanks again!

 

[aart]

This morning, she spread her wings, flared out her feathers and pecked at my hand when I tried to reach into the nesting box.

Even non-broody birds may do that.

These are the signs I look for before calling 'broody'......
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

 

[mountainchickens]

Even non-broody birds may do that.

These are the signs I look for before calling 'broody'......
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

Okay, thanks! Yes, she is on the nest most of the day and all night. She definitely makes that low clucking sound! She also does flatten out into a pancake if we take her out of the nest. So I guess she's broody.

 

[aart]

If so, is there any way to break the broodiness?

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[mountainchickens]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 1763448

Alright! Thank you so much!
If we were to let her be broody, would she adopt day-old chicks placed under her? I don't know if the two eggs she has now are alive or not, because they were from our kitchen, laid by her a few days ago.
We don't have room for more than three chicks at present. Do you think two would be alright, or would they be a little lonely? Additionally, we have seven older hens we'd be adding the chicks to. Their mom would probably protect them until they were old enough to not be bossed around anymore, right?
Anyways, thanks again! If we decide against chicks, we'll try to set up the cage asap.
Edit: She's laid one more egg! I think the two she was sitting on previously were infertile, so if she lays one or two more, we'll be all set for her to have her own chicks hatch!

 

[aart]

We'd have chicks again, but our coop isn't big enough.

That would be the decider for me....break her.

 

[mountainchickens]

That would be the decider for me....break her.

We may actually have enough room, as our flock (we have seven) has two roos in it who we need to return to the farm we bought them from. Once they're back, we'll have room for two more. So still deciding...

 

[Perris]

if you do go for it (and watching a broody with her chicks is utterly delightful), factor in to your calculations that you may not get a 100% hatch rate. Many people solve the chicken math problem by getting another/building an extension to their coop