Broody behavior?

[Lizzy733]

My mom said the same thing. But she only started laying a couple months ago. Would she stop because of winter? She’s also in the house. She lives inside with a special needs rooster. Would the lighting in the house effect her egg laying?

Some breeds are prone to brooding. My silkie hen lays around 12-14 eggs, one a day, then goes broody for around 5 weeks. She has done this season nce she came into lay.

With winter, high egg production breeds can lay straight through their first winter, but most heritage breeds do take a break due to shortened daylight hours, even pullets. It's their time to recover and gain condition for the next breeding season.

Increasing the amount of daylight hours to mimic summer with artificial lighting may get her back on the lay if she is not broody, but a broody will need to break and have a bit of a recovery period before going back on the lay.

I've never been able to break my broody, so her recovery period is usually around a month or so. I'm not sure, but would assume recovery would be shorter for a broken hen.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I have a production bird that goes broody every few months. She much more vocal about her displeasure of being removed from the nesting box and put in broody jail. She also can't be caged with anyone because she will sit on them as if they're her babies. Weirdest freaking bird I've ever had.

 

[Smileybans]

So I accidentally took away her nest today and she acted normal all day. By accidentally I mean I put her cage up on a stool to increase air flow and she jumped out of it at some point during the day. I think one of the kids left the door open. Since she couldn’t get back into the nest to brood she just walked around the house all day. She acted normal so I didn’t put her right back into the cage. At the end of the day she started to go over to the cage and just stand by it. When I put her into it she fluffed up again. I think she can’t make up her mind but she is definitely a lot more moody.

 

[Lizzy733]

I have a production bird that goes broody every few months. She much more vocal about her displeasure of being removed from the nesting box and put in broody jail. She also can't be caged with anyone because she will sit on them as if they're her babies. Weirdest freaking bird I've ever had.

Real bizarre.

My one silkie is my only broody. I had a production that liked making a nest and would get downright clucky about it, but never brooded herself. Not even my broody prone heritage hens have ever given it a go.

My newest silkie seems more keen to lay on top of my broody and add to the clutch rather than set her own, but she's only just come into lay, so time will tell.

 

[Maty]

Hello friends I just finished reading all the post in this thread and am laughing thinking "I'm not the only one having weird behaving chicken" in my case I have a small flock consisting of a regular size rooster and his "wife" a regular size hen, ( I don't know what breed they are) then I got a baby Serama that I raised from a few days old she's my baby , she, and her sister that unfortunately died around 3 months old , adapted to the other two just fine, now she has grown and I wanted to give her a sister and a male companion so I got another hen and a roo about the same age and same breed; they're beautiful and I love them they got used to the routine pretty fast, now they are all grown up and the big rooster is trying to mate with them as is the little one, the big rooster is very protective of all the girls but does not accept the little one and chases him away all the time do not allow him to be near the flock or come into the coop at night I have to bring him in and have a separate area for him were the big one can not attack him, sorry this is so long but that's one of my problems, the other one is that the two little Seramas are already laying eggs and tried to sit on them but I took the egg out and was able to break the behavior, then I did not see eggs for a while untill I found thar one had made a nest out of the coop and had 4 eggs and was sitting on them I tried to move her with the eggs to a safer place but she did not liked it and abandoned the eggs, a few weeks later they both started to lay eggs in the same nest and both are taking turns sitting in the eggs, all this is new to me I decided I was going to let them be moms this time but I'm not sure the eggs are fertilized and they do not stay all the time sitting they both go for a few hours then spend the days as usual and at night they sleep in the roost and I'm afraid those eggs are left to get cool all night and at intervals during the day, is this a normal behavior? I'm all confused please advice

 

[azygous]

Hello friends I just finished reading all the post in this thread and am laughing thinking "I'm not the only one having weird behaving chicken" in my case I have a small flock consisting of a regular size rooster and his "wife" a regular size hen, ( I don't know what breed they are) then I got a baby Serama that I raised from a few days old she's my baby , she, and her sister that unfortunately died around 3 months old , adapted to the other two just fine, now she has grown and I wanted to give her a sister and a male companion so I got another hen and a roo about the same age and same breed; they're beautiful and I love them they got used to the routine pretty fast, now they are all grown up and the big rooster is trying to mate with them as is the little one, the big rooster is very protective of all the girls but does not accept the little one and chases him away all the time do not allow him to be near the flock or come into the coop at night I have to bring him in and have a separate area for him were the big one can not attack him, sorry this is so long but that's one of my problems, the other one is that the two little Seramas are already laying eggs and tried to sit on them but I took the egg out and was able to break the behavior, then I did not see eggs for a while untill I found thar one had made a nest out of the coop and had 4 eggs and was sitting on them I tried to move her with the eggs to a safer place but she did not liked it and abandoned the eggs, a few weeks later they both started to lay eggs in the same nest and both are taking turns sitting in the eggs, all this is new to me I decided I was going to let them be moms this time but I'm not sure the eggs are fertilized and they do not stay all the time sitting they both go for a few hours then spend the days as usual and at night they sleep in the roost and I'm afraid those eggs are left to get cool all night and at intervals during the day, is this a normal behavior? I'm all confused please advice

If you wish to have an in depth discussion about these issues, I suggest you post your own thread under the "Behaviors and egg laying forum".

In short, your two roosters are engaging in perfectly normal behavior where the more mature established roo rules. You're lucky the older one doesn't damage the younger one, and merely dominates the hens.

The broody behavior is more complex. Assume the eggs are fertile since you have two roosters. However, you may or may not have actual broodies. Determining true broody behavior involves a period of egg laying, then three weeks of egg sitting. Since you are in a very warm climate, a broody would be able to spend longer periods off the eggs than she would if she had to contend with the chilly spring temps farther north.

One way to determine if a hen is truly broody is to examine her belly along her keel bone. If she is bald in this region, she's most likely intending to incubate and brood. It is a good idea to steer her to use a nest in the secure coop.

 

[Maty]

If you wish to have an in depth discussion about these issues, I suggest you post your own thread under the "Behaviors and egg laying forum".

In short, your two roosters are engaging in perfectly normal behavior where the more mature established roo rules. You're lucky the older one doesn't damage the younger one, and merely dominates the hens.

The broody behavior is more complex. Assume the eggs are fertile since you have two roosters. However, you may or may not have actual broodies. Determining true broody behavior involves a period of egg laying, then three weeks of egg sitting. Since you are in a very warm climate, a broody would be able to spend longer periods off the eggs than she would if she had to contend with the chilly spring temps farther north.

One way to determine if a hen is truly broody is to examine her belly along her keel bone. If she is bald in this region, she's most likely intending to incubate and brood. It is a good idea to steer her to use a nest in the secure coop.

Thank you so much for your rapid response, I will examine to see if they are missing feathers, today I found them both sitting on the eggs one next to the other, should I separate them and the eggs the k you again for your help

 

[azygous]

No real need to separate the two hens, but I would certainly segregate the nests from the normal layers to prevent breakage which if occurring close to hatch can be heart breaking when a chick is killed in its egg.

 

[Maty]

No real need to separate the two hens, but I would certainly segregate the nests from the normal layers to prevent breakage which if occurring close to hatch can be heart breaking when a chick is killed in its egg.

Thank you I appreciate the advice, the good news is I only have another hen laying and she has her nest at a different part of the coop.
I tried separating them but seeing that they were not happy with the arrangement, opted for putting the same amount of eggs under each one, they are so small and the nest box is big enough for both of them that seemed to agree with them si let's see what happens