Australorp behavior -- Is she going to be broody or is this just the way Australorps are?

[ShrekDawg]

She has been pre-broody for over a month! Maybe I need to hang pictures of chicks? I want to put all these different kinds of fertilized eggs under her!!!

Oh wow! surprised she hasn’t gone full broody yet. is she possibly being bullied by anybody else?

 

[lizo97]

Her favorite nest box is everyone's favorite, so she does get out eventually. I tried to move the nest box and put it in a dog cage inside the coop, but she wasn't comfortable and wanted out. My nest boxes are outside the coop (so the kids can see them lay).

 

[ShrekDawg]

Her favorite nest box is everyone's favorite, so she does get out eventually. I tried to move the nest box and put it in a dog cage inside the coop, but she wasn't comfortable and wanted out. My nest boxes are outside the coop (so the kids can see them lay).

Yeah sometimes they can be really picky! Haha mine usually all lay in one nest box

 

[aart]

Guessing she's just a 'lounger'.
Have had a few like that, they sit in the nest for hours, laying an egg at some point.

These are my go-to signs of a 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.

 

[lizo97]

I think I will say she is a Lounger! I have caught her sleeping with her head under her wing in the nest box. Sometimes, I think she sits there to just irritate the others.

 

[aart]

Sometimes, I think she sits there to just irritate the others.

Or the others are irritating her on the roost, so she chooses a nest to hide/rest in.

 

[Coops Dad]

She probably won't go full broody unless the number of eggs in the nest hits her "critical mass" and triggers her to sit. My CBM broody queen is perfectly normal unless she ends up on a nest with 6 or more eggs in it. If she has enough eggs to feel like she should hatch them, she gets very vocal when anyone gets near and notes if I try to take her off the nest. Once the eggs are removed, she goes back to being a sweetheart.

We gather eggs 3 or 4 times a day to keep her histrionics to a minimum.