can a new layer become broody?

[tjb]

I have an almost 23 wk mix {EExRIR} pullet that started laying on Jan 1st. This past week she has been sitting on her eggs for HOURS!. The last two days, I have taken the eggs from under her.
Today, I noticed that a while after I took the egg, she was still just laying contently in the box. I picked her up and placed her on the ground...
Is she starting to brood and if so, is it super early?? I don't want a broody hen in the winter for certain...

 

[MIchickenlady]

I have an almost 23 wk mix {EExRIR} pullet that started laying on Jan 1st. This past week she has been sitting on her eggs for HOURS!. The last two days, I have taken the eggs from under her.
Today, I noticed that a while after I took the egg, she was still just laying contently in the box. I picked her up and placed her on the ground...
Is she starting to brood and if so, is it super early?? I don't want a broody hen in the winter for certain...

Following for answers. I have new layers also who seem to want to hang out in the nest box...

 

[featheredplanets]

It’s very possible for newly laying pullets to brood. If you suspect she is broody and don’t want that, you should break her. A broody *should* fluff up and make noises at you, some will pluck their chests bare, some will make a mountain nest... but they can be tricksters too, who just want to test the water.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Definitely, I've had many young pullets go broody!

Is she clucking and flattening down like a pancake on the nest? On the nest all night too or just for a few hours during the day? There are other signs as well. Sitting in the nest for a few hours before and after laying their egg is pretty common for hens that aren't broody. Since you don't want her to be hatch, make sure she doesn't get to keep any eggs and take her off the nest multiple times a day. She isn't fully broody yet if she is at all, so that should discourage her enough to stop it now.

 

[tjb]

Thank you, both... She is definitely fluffing up and not wanting to move out of the box... Hopefully, I have caught it early enough to stop her. She is the only layer in this coup and I have 4 more ready at any time so it is only her eggs I have to worry about taking.. Crossing fingers she stops!

 

[aart]

Unless she is staying in the nest for 23 out of 24 hours, she may not be broody.
Some birds like to lounge in the nests both before and after laying, especially new layers who haven't got their systems tuned in yet.
Just let her be, but watch closely before attempting to break her broodiness.

I had to break a couple broody pullets this year, but only attempted to do so after finding them in the nest 3 nights in a row, and observing them in a nest most the day. One appeared to go broody for second time, but as I moved her from nest to roost after dark she dropped an egg, I left her alone after that.