“Pre” broody behavior?

[EggSighted4Life]

Why not? My Sebright x Old English Game Bantam pullet is doing a great job of mothering her chicks.

It's a personal choice...

Pullets aren't yet at their fully mature body weight and often egg size even and they they are just as hormonal and still changing as cockerels even if they are a tad less obvious about it.

It's like the difference between a 14 year old giving birth and raising a baby verses a 24 year old. Women are different than teenagers. Their bodies and mind are far better equipped for the task at hand. And I can speak from experience since I had my son when I was 16 and my daughter at 26.

I also don't hatch very young pullet eggs and they must have been laying for several months minimum before I consider it.

And I let my boys boys mature separate from my gals before they ever get any sort of conjugal visits to spread their seed. Gives them a little time to cool their jets and I get to see how their attitudes develop.

I'm not saying pullets can't successfully raise chicks... what I'm saying is that I won't allow a STILL growing to bird to sit and lose condition on my watch. AND I think they are more and better equipped once they matured as well.

Ive wanted a broody girl so bad that I went and spent my life savings on silkies lol!

If she is indeed broody she will VERY likely go broody again in the future... since you said you weren't currently ready for chicks. Another thing I like to do is adopt feed store chicks to broody hens so I potentially won't have to deal with any cockerels.

Ugh... My Silkie ladies have got broody hormones to spare! And will sit and raise chicks back to back to back through out the year if I let them.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

6:45 at night flat as a pancake on over 20 eggs....

I have an occasional late layer... but usually by 6:45, that is pretty telling.

 

[Thechickenchick2]

An hour later....

 

[Birdinhand]

propensity to broodiness is influenced by hormones governed by circadian rhythms influenced mainly by the amount of light exposed to the pineal gland through the eyes. there is variation between breeds as to how much light is necessary to cause a hen to go broody and there is individual variation within a breed as to whether they will ever get a strong enough instinct to properly brood a batch of eggs.

the one influencing factor as I understand it, that we have, is how much light a hen is exposed to. this can be influenced by removing excessive shade so that enough light gets in to effect the hormone production. if you are keeping her in a rather dark coop, maybe try upping the light exposure to see if it increases her instinct to sit. once she is fully broody and sitting, she does not need so much light exposure to stay broody. some breeds are better winter layers and presumably better with lower light overall and I presume, more likely better up north for brooding. once there is adequate light for a given breed, then the question is whether you have a hen with a strong enough instinct or one that is mature enough. some hens go into a quasi brood and never really get struck with the urge strong enough to complete the task and hatch eggs. you really don't want to experiment with valuable eggs until you are sure she is serious, a good 5-10 days of solid sitting seems to be the common wisdom. a true broody hen is either broody, or not, there is no real in between that can be trusted. you need one that is a rock solid sitter, content with doing the zen monk thing and not getting distracted, they are trance like and take on a very different personality. once a hen has successfully brooded eggs through to hatch, she is worth her weight in gold if you ask me. I've got buff orp that is not even laying all that much any more but I keep her around to raise chicks each year, there is nothing like good old mother nature for that task! good luck.

 

[Jersey Born And Bred]

Another thing I like to do is adopt feed store chicks to broody hens so I potentially won't have to deal with any cockerels.

Does this actually work? They don't notice that they didn't sit on an egg for 21 days and are happy to just take on a chick as their own?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Does this actually work? They don't notice that they didn't sit on an egg for 21 days and are happy to just take on a chick as their own?

It works GREAT!

Best if the hen has been sitting at least a week, and the OLDEST chicks I have been successful with were 6 days old... noting that NONE of the chicks at the feed stores are "day old", as ALL have traveled to get where they are so most will be at least 2-3 days old upon arrival at the feed store. Younger is better for adopting because the chicks stay under the mom easier, learning her voice and her theirs. The older they get the more independent they are and could care less what a clucking hen says and don't realize she is the warm spot.

I even call ahead and see what type of chicks they have coming in since most are ordered far ahead of time. If they have a breed coming in I am more interested... I will wait.

Tucking under mama during the night so she feels them moving and starts exchanging clucks before they come out looking for feed and water. My mamas don't even care if they had any fake egg under them or were just brooding air. They can't count days, so that is irrelevant. BUT allowing time for broody hormones to fully kick in is what matters. Once chicks are tucked under (or hatched) her protective demeanor elevates, usually.

Most broody's just feel super satisfied to hunker down on a good clutch of eggs... even if they stole them from another hen. Done properly (not staggered) they happily raise as many chicks as possible. I NEVER do less than 2 (by choice) but prefer at least 3 just in case something happens.

Every situation will be unique. I usually supervise the first day, starting early in the AM to check that any chick who got out figured out how to make it back under mum to avoid chilling and flock antics.

NOT once YET... have I had to confiscate chicks due to unsuccessful adoption. Though I know it can always be a possibility that I might have to rear them myself.

 

[Jersey Born And Bred]

That's good to know. We're not ready for more yet, but down the road if any of the girls gets broody I might try to take advantage of the free child care instead of raising chicks in a brooder and having to be momma for them. I thought they would only raise chicks that they had hatched, though now that I think of it every so often you'll see pictures of chickens trying to sit on kittens and other weird momma behavior like that.