18 weeks old & broody?

[Well Seasoned]

So our girls & cockeral are 18 weeks & 3 days old. One of them layed their first egg. This was 3 days ago. We took that one but left the 2 ceramic eggs in the nesting boxes.


One of the pullets won't come out from sitting on one of the eggs, the same box she layed in. She made some weird noises when other girls came near, noises I've never heard before. Is she broody already at this age??

She did roll the egg between her beak & her neck.


Picture from above the outer nesting box lid.

 

[A.M. Eggs]

Could be. Eggs left in boxes can trigger them to go broody. I have 2 broodys myself because of them. Best thing to do is you can either break her, buy some chicks that are a day old, or buy some fertilized eggs. (Depends on if you want chicks)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sounds like it. Remove her from the box and see what her behavior is.

Break her NOW... her body and mind aren't fully developed well enough fro her to successfully brood without causing harm to her own health in my opinion. The sooner you break her the easier it will be.

Eggs left in boxes do NOT trigger broodiness. It is completely hormonal!

If I don't leave eggs in boxes, a few of my gals will INSIST on hiding their nest somewhere that isn't daily being raided by a predator. On the other hand I have some gals that go broody about every third egg they lay... EVEN though I collect from that location several times EVERY day. They will happily sit on and try to hatch air!

I won't allow ANY of my gals to brood until they reach one year old. If they are broody now... they will likely do it again in the future... so you can plan ahead if you want some chicks raised. I recommend adopting young feed store chicks to avoid dealing with unwanted cockerels.

Some ladies will go broody once or twice per year. While others will be broody back to back to back every third egg even you let them sit and raise clutches.

Watch out... it IS contagious to others who may be prone.

I have 2 broodys myself because of them.

That isn't the reason... If it was.... anybody could encourage any breed to "go broody". It is an individual thing... sometimes accentuated by breed.

What does effect them... is feeling safe, not crowded, and having plenty of nutrition available. That is why winter is irrelevant to my birds... there is no such thing as TRUE winter here. Even though the temperature and daylight changes, in captivity... food supply does not.

 

[aart]

Remove her from the box and see what her behavior is.

This^^^

 

[Well Seasoned]

She did come out to eat and since hasn't gone back in. If this behavior continues though, I will remove her from the nest and bring her into the yard. Thanks for the advice my chicken friends.

 

[aart]

She did come out to eat and since hasn't gone back in. If this behavior continues though, I will remove her from the nest and bring her into the yard. Thanks for the advice my chicken friends.

Some birds will 'lounge' in the nest before and/or after laying, sometimes up to n hour or more.
So don't assume broody until she's in there most the day and all night,
there will be other behaviors too...some of which are 'flat as pancake' in the nest, screaming, hissing, biting, raising tail, fluffing all feathers out, low constant bukbukbukbuk.

Remove her from the box and see what her behavior is.

This one mostly refers to when you take her out of nest and she drops right down and flattens out on the ground and/or dashes right back to the nest.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Some birds will 'lounge' in the nest before and/or after laying, sometimes up to n hour or more.
So don't assume broody until she's in there most the day and all night

Yes, good points.

Laying is hard work sometimes!

If she returns to the nest instead of going to roost... then she might be thinking about it. But many of my gals do spend a good amount of time in the box though they aren't broody. Especially my new layers. And many will give a bit of warning to others who are thinking about disrupting them while they are laying. Some boxes are preferred to others and pecking order plays out to who waits their turn.

Hopefully she was just taking her time.

Ones that turn broody that fast are usually my nightmares. But still good birds.