Bourbon Red Hen's strange behavior

[ScoobyRoo]

My BR hen is about 10 months old. She has been laying eggs for about 4 weeks now. Lucky me, she goes into the chicken coop to lay her eggs. She lays the egg and then she is gone. BUT.......here is my delimma,,,,I have a cat carrier in the coop (another story) that the hens (Chickens) use to lay their eggs in. Three times in the last week she has reached in there, dragged the eggs out and is setting on them. I shove her away, collect the eggs and she goes back outside and does what most turkeys do, (make a lot of noise

). I do have a BR Tom and the eggs are fertile as we have checked when we eat them. I'm not sure what I need to do to get her to stop OR save her eggs and when there are enough I can do the reverse psychology by putting them all in the cat carrier for her to drag out and set on. She must like those eggs better !

I'm just as confused as she is at the moment. It seems too soon for her to be going broody. What are your suggestions on what to do with her?

 

[ivan3]

She probably thinks that they are hers and something moved them and she's simply returning them to the proper location. She's also a beginner and they can be a little bit idiosyncratic with laying/nesting behavior. If there is a way to provide a secluded location for her -with nest she'll eventually get the idea.

 

[chickenannie]

She has a strong broody instinct and just wants to lay on all the eggs. I would try to work WITH her if you can. Otherwise you may disrupt her broodiness if that's what you want her to do. I couldn't tell from your post whether you are also taking HER eggs out of the nest. At any rate, you could just let her do what she wants and then once she starts to sit, just take away the chicken eggs.

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:
She has me confused. She started laying her eggs in the opposite corner of the coop from the cat carrier. I was collecting her eggs as she was not setting. Now this week , she has moved to the opening of the cat carrier ( it is a small carrier and she is too big to get in it.) She can stick her head in there to drag out any eggs that have been laid at the time she is there. Now she has started laying her eggs in front of the opening of the cat carrier. I have heard and seen some hens protesting because she is blocking the entrance. I continue to collect her eggs for (1) I'm not ready for more turkey poults at the moment (like it is my choice

and (2) She does not stay on the eggs very long. I don't think she is completely broody yet. Is that possible? I would just rather she doesn't set yet.

 

[pdpatch]

Generally several turkey hens will lay in a group and just one sits on the eggs. They will wait till there is 6 to 9 eggs then start to sit on them. They will adopt others eggs to get to there 6 to 9 eggs. So basically it normal behavior.

Until she has the total number she wants to sit on she won't go completely broody.

Tom

 

[chickenannie]

Henry'schickens :

Quote:
She has me confused. She started laying her eggs in the opposite corner of the coop from the cat carrier. I was collecting her eggs as she was not setting. Now this week , she has moved to the opening of the cat carrier ( it is a small carrier and she is too big to get in it.) She can stick her head in there to drag out any eggs that have been laid at the time she is there. Now she has started laying her eggs in front of the opening of the cat carrier. I have heard and seen some hens protesting because she is blocking the entrance. I continue to collect her eggs for (1) I'm not ready for more turkey poults at the moment (like it is my choice

and (2) She does not stay on the eggs very long. I don't think she is completely broody yet. Is that possible? I would just rather she doesn't set yet.

It's because you were taking her eggs away that she went over to the chicken egg area. They figure out if a spot is not a good nest area if the eggs keep disappearing. She must think it's safer over where the chicken eggs are. My theory is that as they lay, they start "testing" their nest area by staying longer and longer periods of time to make sure it's safe, before they finally dive in and stay on the eggs 24/7 to hatch them.​

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:
She has me confused. She started laying her eggs in the opposite corner of the coop from the cat carrier. I was collecting her eggs as she was not setting. Now this week , she has moved to the opening of the cat carrier ( it is a small carrier and she is too big to get in it.) She can stick her head in there to drag out any eggs that have been laid at the time she is there. Now she has started laying her eggs in front of the opening of the cat carrier. I have heard and seen some hens protesting because she is blocking the entrance. I continue to collect her eggs for (1) I'm not ready for more turkey poults at the moment (like it is my choice

and (2) She does not stay on the eggs very long. I don't think she is completely broody yet. Is that possible? I would just rather she doesn't set yet.

It's because you were taking her eggs away that she went over to the chicken egg area. They figure out if a spot is not a good nest area if the eggs keep disappearing. She must think it's safer over where the chicken eggs are. My theory is that as they lay, they start "testing" their nest area by staying longer and longer periods of time to make sure it's safe, before they finally dive in and stay on the eggs 24/7 to hatch them.

chickenannie, thanks for your input. That does make sense. Now, I need to ask myself if I'm ready for her to go broody or take my chances and keep collecting the eggs till later in March. I'm also concerned with the fact of her laying in the coop and the other chickens roost in there at night, lay eggs where ever they please and they scratch in the deep litter that is in there at the moment. Her eggs could get moved around or damaged. So many questions. What shall I do?
She is the only hen turkey that I have.

 

[chickenannie]

Henry'schickens :

Quote:
It's because you were taking her eggs away that she went over to the chicken egg area. They figure out if a spot is not a good nest area if the eggs keep disappearing. She must think it's safer over where the chicken eggs are. My theory is that as they lay, they start "testing" their nest area by staying longer and longer periods of time to make sure it's safe, before they finally dive in and stay on the eggs 24/7 to hatch them.

chickenannie, thanks for your input. That does make sense. Now, I need to ask myself if I'm ready for her to go broody or take my chances and keep collecting the eggs till later in March. I'm also concerned with the fact of her laying in the coop and the other chickens roost in there at night, lay eggs where ever they please and they scratch in the deep litter that is in there at the moment. Her eggs could get moved around or damaged. So many questions. What shall I do?
She is the only hen turkey that I have.​

Just so you know ... turkeys don't lay nearly as much as chickens do. So you pretty much have a shorter time window, IF you want miss turkey to set on a nest and hatch babies. They get the urge now, in early Spring, and maybe a few times through the summer, but that's it. Just saying... if you want poults I would treat the eggs as precious. If you don't want poults, then don't worry about it.