Broody CornishX / CX

[U_Stormcrow]

I have a 9 mo old CornishX hen (don't ask), who has been laying for a couple months, and being regularly mounted by a Rooster I brought on the property roughly two months ago. Have already hatched a pair of chicks I am near certain came from her, so I'm confident he's been successful at doing the deed.

Anyhow, last two days, she's spent almost all her time in my biggest nesting box (her favorite), sitting. She's quite protective, attempting to tap/peck when I get my hand in there to feel around, and she's sitting on at least one egg as of yesterday, maybe more today. I know CX are lazy lazy birds, but she doesn't even get up to chase food the past couple days - she goes down for a big evening feeding, then right back up to the nest.

So, I think she's gone broody, which would be my first (one of my ducks is behaving similarly, except of course that it doesn't use a nesting box, and does leave the nest more often).

CX obviously aren't bred for broodiness. Hells, they aren't even bred for long life.

Anyone have any experience with CX as mothers? or other things/behaviors I should look for to confirm she's gone broody?

 

[HappyDuckie]

Is she walking ok? You may want to check her legs for bruising. I wouldn't say its entirely impossible that she's broody, but I recently had to cull my CX because her legs finally gave out, and she couldn't walk. She was acting exactly how yours is.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My test if a hen is truly broody and deserves eggs is that she needs to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot. There are many clues that a hen might be broody but to me those are not conclusive. She might or might not be. Two consecutive nights on the nest.

I have no experience with a broody CX but there have been a few posts on here where one did go broody. It can certainly happen. It often doesn't go well. A broody hen walks on her eggs getting on and off the nest. A CX is so heavy she can crush them. I would not risk it with any eggs I wanted her to hatch unless you are into trying things that may not be successful but so you can say you did.

The way I break a broody hen is to lock her in an elevated cage with a wire bottom for 72 hours. I give her food and water but nothing that looks like a nest. The cool air in her underside tends to break her form being broody. Not sure how a heavy CX would do in a wire bottomed nest, might hurt her feet or legs.

Before a hen starts to lay she builds up a certain amount of fat. That fat is mostly what she lives off of while broody so she can be on her nest incubating eggs instead of out looking for food. The longer she is broody the more fat she has to replace before she starts laying again. You may want to break her so you have eggs for your incubator.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You know me @Ridgerunner, I'm happy to try anything and learn from it, whatever happens. and I've no shortage of eggs, can't give them away fast enough. So if a few eggs are crushed, worst that happens is I have to clean a nesting box. Just fed another 30 back to the birds, yesterday. That gets me to just 100 or so in the fridge, plus the 13 I just pulled from the other nesting boxes. Expect a few more this afternoon...

I'm confident she has slept in the box the last two days, which is NOT her normal location - but we've also had some unusual weather this week, so I'll give it a few days more, and report back.

She's no supermarket broiler, but she's got plenty of fat to live on.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thanks to those who counseled patience.

This AM, she was up off her nest, and eager to run out with others to free range in the rain.

OK, she waddles, they run. Checked the nest, no eggs, no signs of broken eggs. My Roo was trying to chase her down, quite noisy about it. She was loudly playing hard to get. Of course, she's not that fast, so we know how it ended (quickly).

My on again off again duck was off her nest too.

Maybe later in the year. Until then, the incubator is running 24/7/365. I'll manage.