Broody sign or no?

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I'm wondering if I'm seeing beginning signs of a potential broody pullet?

Over the past week, I have thrice seen her try to sleep in the nesting boxes. I encouraged her to leave each time and she returned to the roost.

All the birds roost nightly without incident, and I've checked for mites and haven't noticed any (doesn't mean there aren't, just that I haven't found any and all the birds roost...)

My flock of chickens is 5-6 months old (hatched first week of December 2024)

They all go out in the morning. I've never noticed any just -staying- in a nest. If they are in the nest box during the day, I quickly leave so I don't disturb them and check back in like an hour to collect eggs, and they're gone back with the flock doing chicken things.

Today (an hour ago, about mid morning) I went out and there was an egg, AND a few chicken down feathers in the nest with the egg. Which these pullets have never done before.

I only have 2 barred pullets. One is the pullet in question who has been trying to sleep in the box.
I returned the feathers to the nest.

So... is this a sign one is about to go broody? Or is there just some weird thing where they left some down feathers? I tried to look this up before posting here, but just wasn't having luck finding examples like this.

*please note, in nest picture, the big egg is a ceramic nest egg. Some of my nest boxes have one.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hens will sometimes pluck their chest feathers for better egg contact. It doesn't sound broody. Sometimes a bottom bird will start sleeping in the nestboxes to escape the pecking order ritual at roost time.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Interesting.
I haven't noticed if she's at the bottom of the pecking order.
I'll try to note more things about their roosting habits
(personal notes, not necessarily posting here. Example- what eggs I got that day)

One odd thing is the cockerel has consistently roosted on the bottom board. I suppose if he decided to change the ranks, it would have a massive impact.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Roosters tend to roost on the end or closer to the doorway. The good ones do. An established mature rooster is always top bird over hens.

 

[Sinadrea]

Is the hen flattening herself out over the eggs at night and growling at you? Thats also a good indicator. Mine is about to hatch some and she'll also peck at me when I touch her.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Roosters tend to roost on the end or closer to the doorway. The good ones do. An established mature rooster is always top bird over hens.

Really? It would be cool if he ended up being a good rooster. He's young so I figured he's just clueless at best.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Is the hen flattening herself out over the eggs at night and growling at you? Thats also a good indicator. Mine is about to hatch some and she'll also peck at me when I touch her.

Good point. It's been so long since I've seen a broody hen. Once we started getting birds from stores, we stopped getting broody hens.
(*edit for any readers. I don't mean to say that store chicks can't/won't go broody. Certain breeds are less likely to, and that's what my parents got. Our original birds were mixes that went broody and hatched and raised their young, so there was a higher probability of getting broody instincts. We no longer have those genetics, so I'm starting from scratch.)

She doesn't flatten or peck.

The first night she was sleeping in the boxes, I just bothered her a little (pet her feathers) and she moved to the roost.
A couple days later, same thing.
Third time, she moved by herself without me going up to the box.

I collect all their eggs throughout the day. But, the ceramic eggs are always there. So I've been a little concerned that they could eventually cause problems.

 

[NetherLeeFarm]

Every hen is different, but I've never had a problem with fake eggs causing broodiness and l keep them in the nesting boxes year around. What you've described in your post seems normal, especially when they first start laying and are young. They often don't know what's happening so they hang out too long in nesting boxes or decide to take up residence in them. And some rare doofuses decide to hang out there and take hours to lay an egg even when they're older.

Pullets who are still feathering in (takes about a year or so to fully feather in but in reality feathering is always happening) and laying will often drop an alarming amount of feathers. Unless you see nest guarding behavior - hissing, growling, stealing eggs and putting them all in her nest, nipping at you and other hens - basically pissy behavior at everyone and everything, I'd just say she's being a chicken.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Every hen is different, but I've never had a problem with fake eggs causing broodiness and l keep them in the nesting boxes year around. What you've described in your post seems normal, especially when they first start laying and are young. They often don't know what's happening so they hang out too long in nesting boxes or decide to take up residence in them. And some rare doofuses decide to hang out there and take hours to lay an egg even when they're older.

Pullets who are still feathering in (takes about a year or so to fully feather in but in reality feathering is always happening) and laying will often drop an alarming amount of feathers. Unless you see nest guarding behavior - hissing, growling, stealing eggs and putting them all in her nest, nipping at you and other hens - basically pissy behavior at everyone and everything, I'd just say she's being a chicken.

Good to know.
I felt it would be a little young to suddenly go broody. But, I did also intentionally pick breeds that have a higher chance of going broody as I'd like to have at least one good mother hen.

 

[NetherLeeFarm]

Good to know.
I felt it would be a little young to suddenly go broody. But, I did also intentionally pick breeds that have a higher chance of going broody as I'd like to have at least one good mother hen.

Years ago when I first started keeping hens, we had to constantly break broodiness. I'm not sure what's changed but IMO I think broodiness may be being bred out of them because I usually buy the same breeds every year and I haven't had one go broody in a long time, maybe 3+ years? And these are typically broody breeds - orpingtons, Aussies, barred rock etc. But it may depend on more factors than breeds.