Broody or just lazy?

[mochicken]

I have a 6-7 month old black sex link pullet that lays consistently every day, I have had pneumonia and have not been able to get the egg collected until later in the afternoon because that is when my wife gets off work. When I was in the hospital 4 eggs collected in the nest, I do not know if she sat on them or not as I was gone obviously but now when my wife goes to collect her daily egg that dang pullet is sitting on it and the egg is warm, I can see them from the house and I know she is now sitting on it all day after laying it, just late afternoon to early evening. Is this a "broody behavior" or is she just sitting in the nesting box because she wants to?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sounds like she's broody. Check and see if she's on the nest at night instead of roosting. Does she puff up when you try to get the eggs under her?

 

[mochicken]

Yup she is sitting in the nest and she definitely gets pissy when you try to take the egg but she is not sitting on it all day like most broody hens, just in the evenings. How do I correct this? Just getting the eggs earlier in the day will solve some of the issues I guess but should I just let her brood some young? she is my only laying hen right now after I lost two recently and it will be 2 months or more before my others are laying.

 

[Azriel]

If she is still laying, she isn't broody, I have some that will sit in the nest most of the day, only getting out when someone else jumps in, but all are on the roosts at night. Some like to sleep in the nest box, but you should not let them do that, the nest gets to full of poop and the eggs will get dirty. If she is out most of the day and then goes in at night to sleep, take her out and put her on the roost so she learns that the box is for laying, and the roosts are for sleeping.

 

[Happy Chooks]

When she goes broody, she'll quit laying. She's probably thinking about it though. I have one girl that thought about it for several months until she finally went broody 2 days ago.

 

[mochicken]

Okay thanks peeps lol, I'll keep collecting the eggs when I can and if she starts sitting on them all the time then I guess I will let her do it.