Broody not into eggs but broods everything else

[BigBlueHen53]

I just wonder what these hens are thinking... about these magic golf balls. A single one explodes into a multitude of chicks overnight!

 

[Cecelia Roselind]

I just wonder what these hens are thinking... about these magic golf balls. A single one explodes into a multitude of chicks overnight!

Yes lol this is to funny

 

[DonyaQuick]

Tonight I'm going to try to move my broody into the house, where she can have a few fake eggs for a bit before the chicks arrive. She won't have the fake eggs for long, but hopefully that won't make a huge difference (it didn't matter for a different broody of mine a couple years ago who is a good mama). She has been so calm about periodically letting 2-3lb pullets snuggle under her wing that I wonder if the risk with chicks is actually quit a bit less than I originally thought. Of course, the older pullets don't make the right noises to unbroody her so I guess I shouldn't be surprised she stays sitting despite their antics. Assuming the move doesn't immediately break her (always a risk...) I'll see how she does with the chicks when they arrive.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Assuming the move doesn't immediately break her (always a risk...)

Oooooor I'll take her into the house not even in the dark because of trying to avoid a nasty storm, plop her in front of a new nest she's never seen before in a strange room, and she'll just got "yay eggies!" and glue herself to the new nest with zero prompting. So much for what I thought was a total lack of interest in eggs. I am baffled. Only thing I can think of is that one of her flockmates is a very dominant, 9lb sumo wrestler of a hen who just the past few days got the broody thing going too, although in a not-very-committed way...so maybe my smaller committed Cochin broody was getting bullied if she tried to take eggs and I just somehow never saw it?? Well she's on a nest in the house and happy as a clam now, so wish I guess just me luck now with grafting chicks...

 

[DonyaQuick]

Not the best results so far from this hen…she seems to tolerate most of the chicks but isn’t happy when they start wiggling a lot. Lots of wiggle still makes her do angry noises which I’ve not seen in my good broodies. There is also zero tidbitting going on; she just eats in silence. Chicks have been under he since yesterday evening and fake eggs removed. I’m seeing some of the mouth breathing that goes along with unbroodying; that seems too fast. I will give it a small bit longer before firing up the heat lamp again in case I’m wrong but it just doesn’t feel right so far. She should be happy to let them roam the nest more freely now and isn’t…

 

[DonyaQuick]

Ok experiment ended…chicks are back in the brooder. She is not sharing food and pecks at the babies if they come out from under her too much. The pecks are accompanied by angry noises so I don’t think she realizes those are the same babies as the ones under her. I notice her comb is back to red too now.

So in fact it would seem the behavioral things I was worried about maybe were red flags something wasn’t quite right for her.