??? about 'brooding' hen...

[critters]

I have a hen who has decided to sit....that would be ok but this flock has no access
to any roosters.....the only 'men' in their lives so far have been guineas and peafowl...

so, why is she sitting? I have marked her eggs with a sharpie, moved them from
the main nesting box that they normally lay in and she stilll sits...??

so is this normal? she seems very determined to hold her ground/nest...

 

[cassie]

Broodiness in hens is hormonal and, like egg laying, has nothing whatever to do with the presence or absence of a rooster. Some hens are more determined to brood than others. I once had a cochin bantam that tried desperately to hatch a clutch of iris bulbs. There are a number of ways to break up a broody. I put mine in an all wire cage with food and water and no bedding. If you do that she should be back to normal in less than a week.

 

[Bunnylady]

Setting is a behavior that is regulated by the hen's hormones. It has nothing to do with whether then hen has bred or not, or even if the eggs are fertile - hens have been tricked into brooding things like fake eggs and golf balls.

Hens vary in their determination to set. I have moved broody hens (and their eggs) from more public areas to private cages numerous times. Some birds will quit if disturbed like this, others go right on setting. I had one Silkie hen (the breed many consider the broodiest of the broodies) that was setting in a place where other hens could continue to lay eggs in her nest. As eggs hatched, I removed the chicks, and she kept on brooding! I think she stayed for something like 3 months before I finally took all but the oldest eggs out of the nest. When the last one under her hatched, she finally left to raise that chick.

If you have some fertile eggs that you want to hatch, a broody hen will most likely do a better job than an incubator. They can even be used to hatch the eggs of other birds, like ducks.

A hen that wants to brood can be a bit of a nuisance, since a hen doesn't lay eggs when she's broody. If you want to break her of this, removing her eggs may not be enough. Cooling her underside can help to break up the broody behavior. Putting her in a cage with a wire floor, where there is good ventilation even when she sits down, may eventually result in her returning to more normal behavior.

 

[critters]

really just didn't know....Thanks!!