Broody not into eggs but broods everything else

[DonyaQuick]

I've got a broody cochin who started her broodiness at just the right time to line up with some mail-order chicks I have arriving, and she's been impossible to disuade from brooding so far (my ability to separate her is limited at the moment). She has also been inclined to brood the following things on a regular basis, none of which are eggs:

• Wads of shavings
• My foot (when I remove her from the nest and sit with her)
• A 2lb pullet who doesn't want to grow up (incubator baby; not the broody's own chick)
• Literally just a bare floor if it's warm enough

She once brooded a single egg someone laid under her for one day before I took it, but she didn't seem to miss it. The other hens lay eggs in the nest boxes right beside her or even right smack in front of her nest where she can totally see the eggs, but she seemingly has no interest. When she goes back in the coop, she will walk right past a big pile of fresh eggs to go back to "her" empty nest box. Every other broody I've had has been egg-obsessed, so it's starting to seem pretty weird to me. She is eating and drinking well as long as I pry her off the nest once or twice a day. She also sometimes makes happy mama noises at my 12-week-old pullets in the evenings.

Does this behavior seem within bounds enough to try moving her onto fake eggs and then swapping chicks under her? Or is the total lack of interest in eggs a red flag? If it seems too far off to be a good bet, then I can always try to un-broody her by housing her next to the chicks' brooder for a couple days once they arrive (since by then I'll have a spare space for her). When the chicks arrive she'll have been broody for roughly 3 weeks.

 

[Debbie292d]

I'd just leave her alone, where it's quiet and dark.

Broody is hormonal. They'd be broody on anything you gave them as long as they could stay sitting on it. Usually, the typical brood period is three weeks.

Hopefully, she happens to stay broody for when the chicks come. If she accepts them, she changes modes so she's now momma.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I'd just leave her alone, where it's quiet and dark.

Broody is hormonal. They'd be broody on anything you gave them as long as they could stay sitting on it. Usually, the typical brood period is three weeks.

Hopefully, she happens to stay broody for when the chicks come. If she accepts them, she changes modes so she's now momma.

If she quits early that's totally fine; I've got my brooder setup ready to go. If it seems like it would go well if she stays, it would certainly be nice to avoid having a 200W heat lamp in my home office in the middle of July lol. I just don't want to put the chicks in a riskier-than-necessary position since I have had a couple bad broodies violently reject chicks in the past. This girl has never hatched or raised anything before so she's an unknown.

 

[Cecelia Roselind]

She’s probably in the first stages of becoming broody since you haven’t been letting her sit on eggs if you can I would give her a few eggs and see if she’ll hatch ‘em out

 

[BigBlueHen53]

She’s probably in the first stages of becoming broody since you haven’t been letting her sit on eggs if you can I would give her a few eggs and see if she’ll hatch ‘em out

That's not a bad idea. It seems she is locked on to the nest right now.

she will walk right past a big pile of fresh eggs to go back to "her" empty nest

That's normal. She doesn't know chcks come from eggs. It's just hormones driving her behavior, she doesn't know why. I think if she were mine I would give her two fake eggs or golf balls to keep her dedicated until your ordered chicks arrive. That's what I just did with my two broodies and now they are sharing 19 chicks between them. I only ordered 15 but Cackle gave me 4 extra!

 

[Cecelia Roselind]

That's not a bad idea. It seems she is locked on to the nest right now.



That's normal. She doesn't know chcks come from eggs. It's just hormones driving her behavior, she doesn't know why. I think if she were mine I would give her two fake eggs or golf balls to keep her dedicated until your ordered chicks arrive. That's what I just did with my two broodies and now they are sharing 19 chicks between them. I only ordered 15 but Cackle gave me 4 extra!

Yes this is an awesome idea just be careful to make sure your hen is being nice.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes this is an awesome idea just be careful to make sure your hen is being nice.

My hens were a bit confused when I went to put chicks under them. Especially Grumpy Hen was pecking madly at me, and she pecked at the chicks a bit too. I closed them protectively in my hand and stuck them as deep under her as I could, all while she was growling and slamming me in the arm with her beak. But once she felt them under her, against her warm, bare broody patch, they were hers and she settled down on top of them. It took a little doing, but they got it worked out between them.

 

[Cecelia Roselind]

My hens were a bit confused when I went to put chicks under them. Especially Grumpy Hen was pecking madly at me, and she pecked at the chicks a bit too. I closed them protectively in my hand and stuck them as deep under her as I could, all while she was growling and slamming me in the arm with her beak. But once she felt them under her, against her warm, bare broody patch, they were hers and she settled down on top of them. It took a little doing, but they got it worked out between them.

Awesome I’m so glad it worked I always try to put them late at night under the hen so she just goes to sleep and then wakes up and see "her" chicks!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Awesome I’m so glad it worked I always try to put them late at night under the hen so she just goes to sleep and then wakes up and see "her" chicks!

It was late at night! But ... we could not put 19 chirping chicks under these two hens without disturbing them. To start with we had to move them from their chosen nests in the hen house to the brooder which is a separate little building. There was no room for chicks in the nests. Then, the second hen ran back into the hen house and jumped up into her nest. She was obviously bonded to the nest and could not be moved. So we put six chicks in the nest with her and decided to move her and the chicks the following morning. In short, it was bedlam! We'd given Grumpy Alligator Hen 7 chicks so we brought the remaining 6 chicks back into the house and brooded them indoors overnight. Next morning we found Gentle Hen on the floor of the coop trying to cover her bewildered chicks so we gathered up her and them and took them to the brooder with Gumpy Hen, where more chaos ensued. We also put in the chicks we'd brooded overnight. But somehow the two hens have sorted things out and nobody died.

 

[Cecelia Roselind]

That great their doing amazing!!