Broody Hen? Or just thinking about it

[Ruby May]

Hi everyone,

I have a young comet maybe 30 weeks old nesting in the storage area under the porch at night. She pecked at me last night when I put eggs beside her. This morning she was in the yard and up by the coop when I got home from work. She is spending the days off the nest so I removed all but 1 egg and she returns at night. I am not sure if she is just thinking about going broody or just sleeping there at night. I also dont know if I should move her back to the coop and try to break the habit since it is starting to get cold here in West Virginia or just leave her be and give her eggs if she goes broody. What should I do?

 

[Bunnylady]

I think she's just sleeping in there, and I'd lock her up. Comets are a combination of breeds designed for egg production; the tendency to go broody has almost been bred out of them. Broody hens usually appear to flatten themselves over the eggs in their nests; though not all try to take your arm off, most give voice to a velociraptor-like screech if you get anywhere near their eggs.

 

[FloridaRedneck]

I have a Jersey Black Giant that gives the raptor screech when I first open the coop in the morning. She started to get very broody so I gave her a plastic easter egg to sit on until I got up a dozen eggs from the other hens to put under her. Somehow that plastic egg got under the house and I had to get her and that stupid easter egg out and back to the coop, which was not so fun, but she is happily sitting now.