Do I have a broody hen?

[Frizzlett98]

I have a white Silkie named Binky who just started laying eggs a few weeks ago. For the past 2 days she's been staying in the nest box a lot. There were 2 eggs this morning and then she hopped in. A third hen laid her egg and Binky tucked it underneath her. Binky did lay an egg today though. I had some of her eggs in the fridge that nobody wanted to eat since they're so small, so I took those to her and placed them in front of her. She tucked those underneath her too and wiggled around to get comfortable. She's been in the nest box going on 2 hours. If she's going to go broody she might as well before it gets really cold right? I've seen my other hens tucking eggs underneath them when they're about to lay but they've never stayed in there for more than 20 minutes. Also, we just introduced new chickens into the coop so could it be a territorial thing?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens that are just in there to lay will tuck eggs under them. There are a lot of different things that might indicate a hen is broody, but I’ve seen hens that are not broody show every one of them. To me the real test is where do they spend the night? If they spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of roosting in their favorite normal spot, they are broody enough to trust with eggs. One night is not enough, it has to be two nights in a row.

 

[Frizzlett98]

Ok thanks! The eggs are there just to test and see if she is trustworthy. I don't really think she is but she's not proving she's not as of right now.

 

[Frizzlett98]

She's there again. She was sitting in there last night and she was there this morning. We don't know if she was there all night but she was sitting on nothing. My brother took her out of the nest box and she continued to sit on the ground. She has no eggs under her. She stole the first egg of the day right after it was laid, and tucked it underneath her.

 

[cafrhe]

We are new to chickens and had the same questions. Our girl showed some broodiness a few times over the summer, but always got off the nest and slept on the roost. This time she tucked herself into a nest box with only a wooden egg in it, scared off the other hens and chirred and clacked at us every time we opened the nest box access. She was very obvious in her 'defense' of her nest.

I dont think she came out at all in 2-3 days. We decided to get her some hatching eggs and she has been on them a week. She did come out the other day. She flew out of the coop screaming like a banshee....stayed fluffed for a while, still chirred if I went near her. I was worried that this was the end of sitting, but read up on it, felt better and found her back on (the wrong) nest maybe 40 mins later. I moved her back onto her nest and I dont think she has left again.

I did build her her own box and enclosed a little run on it now. She has food and water and some privacy. Still sitting. I think a total of 1.5 weeks, 1 of which on eggs.

 

[Frizzlett98]

My Silkie doesn't make any noise and allows other hens into the nest so she can take their eggs lol.

 

[Frizzlett98]

I think she was in the nest box all night but we're going to check on her tonight to see if she's there. She laid an egg yesterday but is still continuing to sit.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I have a Buff Orp who did a whole "Faux Broody" thing shortly after she began to lay. She began making a soft "cluck-cluck" noise all day long, would stay on the nest forever, was puffing herself up like a turkey when any of the other girls came around. She would, however, get off the nest to eat and drink several times a day and I'd find her taking short breaks to scratch in the run. I figured it might be hormones from beginning to lay so I would push her off the nest and she finally quit it after about 10 days.

That was last fall and - come this past spring - she went into full blown Broody Mode and it was serious business, much more pronounced than before. She wouldn't get off the nest to scratch about the run, no breaks, she was on that nest 24/7. And she had a funny "glazed over" look in her eyes that she'd not had before. She almost appeared to be in a trance. After a few days of that I ordered fertile eggs for her and she turned out to be a really great broody and an even better Mom.

Maybe your gal is having a hormone swing with recently beginning to lay. If she stays on that nest 24/7 and has that "I'm in a trace" look in her eyes, then it might be the real thing. Give it a few days and you should know.

 

[Frizzlett98]

She's been there all day except for when I tried to move her and the eggs. She keeps getting trampled by hens that want to lay. I thought I'd move her so that would stop but she didn't like the new location. She came outside but when I put the eggs back where they were, she hopped in the box and tucked them all underneath her. She's still there to this very minute. She looks like she's in a trance and she has started growling at me and pecked my brother when he was collecting the other eggs. She shares her nest box and the other hens take her eggs when the go to lay. We have nowhere else to put her so I guess she'll just have to stepped on. She doesn't seem to mind it.

 

[Frizzlett98]

This is Binky's 3rd day on the nest without getting up. My incubator temp was fluctuating between 96 and 106. So I gave Binky the eggs because they are not going to survive with the incubator doing that if they're not dead already. She's going to be a mommy much sooner than expected. I had to take 3 eggs from her to make room for the others. Luckily there wasn't anything growing in them. It's supposed to be a little warmer this week so hopefully they'll make it. She's in that "frozen" state of mind. All she does is growl at me and coo to her eggs. I'll probably be taking the others from her since they are only at day 3 and the incubator's were day 15. I didn't want to take them all at once and my other hens didn't want me doing that either lol. There's probably nothing in the other eggs because she was on and off the nest for hours at a time before she went fully broody. So hopefully she won't get up and leave them before this weekend. Wish Binky luck!