Broody Hen Thread!

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and learning
 
my hen's doin strange ...................she stopped laying 2 weeks before..at first she was sitting on the eggs but then it rained the next day so she got up and........still behaving like a broody pecking but not sitting..she was doing the same for the whole week so i removed the eggs yesterday so she had a night without eggs...today morning she was clucking and if she had to lay so i left her but she was still not sitting so gave her an egg so she tucked it under her and was acting like a broody puffs up her feather and pecking.....but after half an hour she again left the eggs and now she is not going to the nest......................tired of it ...if anyone can tell me if she is truly broody or not a broody..............if not so when will she be broody again..............please anyone tell me
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my hen's doin strange ...................she stopped laying 2 weeks before..at first she was sitting on the eggs but then it rained the next day so she got up and........still behaving like a broody pecking but not sitting..she was doing the same for the whole week so i removed the eggs yesterday so she had a night without eggs...today morning she was clucking and if she had to lay so i left her but she was still not sitting so gave her an egg so she tucked it under her and was acting like a broody puffs up her feather and pecking.....but after half an hour she again left the eggs and now she is not going to the nest......................tired of it ...if anyone can tell me if she is truly broody or not a broody..............if not so when will she be broody again..............please anyone tell me
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Sounds like she is trying but not committing to it... is she going to the roost at night? Has she plucked out her chest feathers? You say she isn't laying, are you sure there isn't a problem with her health wise (egg bound?), how old is she? there is probably nothing you can do but wait (and put 3 or 4 golf balls into a nest for her to set on when the mood strikes). Young birds especially can take a while to make up their mind. You can't rush them and I wouldn't give her eggs till she has been setting steady on a nest for quite a few days. If you break her broody mood it may still be a while before she starts laying again.
And there is no way someone can give you a definite answer on if she is broody and/or when she will go broody again.
 
I think I have a broody hen . Is that possible without a rooster ?? I have 2 bantam hens and 1 tetra tint in this particular chicken tractor . I checked on the girls at 12:30 today , no eggs and again at 5:00 and she was setting on her nest so I left her alone and went out to dinner and got home around 9:00 and she was still in the nest box . I moved her to the side and there were 4 eggs . I have never gotten 4 eggs from these girls before and they were very warm . Are they still ok to eat ?? I usally sell my eggs and i wash them and then refrigerate and then i sell them the next day . I am new to chicken keeping and have never had a broody and if she is not going broody Is there something wrong ??? Thanks for any help ! :)
 
I think I have a broody hen . Is that possible without a rooster ?? I have 2 bantam hens and 1 tetra tint in this particular chicken tractor . I checked on the girls at 12:30 today , no eggs and again at 5:00 and she was setting on her nest so I left her alone and went out to dinner and got home around 9:00 and she was still in the nest box . I moved her to the side and there were 4 eggs . I have never gotten 4 eggs from these girls before and they were very warm . Are they still ok to eat ?? I usally sell my eggs and i wash them and then refrigerate and then i sell them the next day . I am new to chicken keeping and have never had a broody and if she is not going broody Is there something wrong ??? Thanks for any help ! :)

I don't know if I should say congrats or sorry (if you don't want a broody because you need the egg production)... LOL... but sounds like you have a broody. Hens could care less if their is a rooster around for broody purposes. The eggs are probably fine, 'Dummy' eggs (which is what I call sacrificial eggs I place under broodies for a day at a time) are ones I don't include in any cartons I am going to sell. I usually keep them for my own use so I don't have as high a risk of getting someone upset about any blood spot, but I have roosters, so most of ours are fertile. I would rather use them myself though, and have never had any that were 'bad' after a day of being sat on.

If you want her to hatch out eggs then find a source for fertile eggs, if she is a banty give her 5 or 6, if she is the Tetra she could have 8 or 10 probably, depending on how big she is...
Have fun! Broodies are awesome!
 

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