Broody Hen! Crazy hen!

[LCARTER87]

One of our hens just went broody last week, occasionally she is jumping out of the nesting box and doing these crazy things with her feathers, its almost like she is raising all of them up and running into our other hens, is this normal behaviour for a broody hen? This is our first, so i'm not sure what we should be looking out for!

 

[sourland]

Usually while doing this they will be uttering a gosh awful screech at the top of their lungs. Yes, it is normal behavior. I always figured they were releasing tension built up while setting.

 

[LCARTER87]

okay great thing! She is screeching but usually just when she is getting mad at the other hens bothering her, and its okay for the eggs if she gets off them to eat ect?

 

[sourland]

Yep, all is fine. The eggs will cool down somewhat, but birds have been doing their thing for thousands of years.