Easter Egger ... broody!?

[Ridgerunner]

All these EE's went broody at least once a year, some several times. But that is a trait I bred into them. They all laid blue or green eggs too.

EE's are not a breed. There are no standards for what makes an EE. We can't even all agree on a definition for an EE. You can't really talk about what traits EE's have because there is no standard for what traits thy are supposed to have.

Where does your hen spend her nights? My test to see if a hen is broody enough to trust her with eggs is that she has to send two consecutive nights on the nest instead of in her normal roosting spot. There are a lot of clues a hen might be broody but unless she passes my two consecutive night test I don't consider her broody. When you say " sat on them for several hours but is finished again" it makes me think she's not really broody.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

I have a broody EE right now who has a nest somewhere in the woods. I finally caught her today after her disappearing for 2 days. She is presently in jail. I'm amazed she wasn't killed by a predator.

 

[MaBell]

Let her hatch some! She won’t get another chance if the roo....got what he deserved, ehem.
ETA! Is she done? Not broody?

As far as I can tell, she just likes the IDEA of mom-ing lol! She stays for a few hours and then leaves. I can’t tell if she WANTS to be broody or if she’s shaming me for Rhett’s sudden disappearance.

 

[MaBell]

All these EE's went broody at least once a year, some several times. But that is a trait I bred into them. They all laid blue or green eggs too.

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EE's are not a breed. There are no standards for what makes an EE. We can't even all agree on a definition for an EE. You can't really talk about what traits EE's have because there is no standard for what traits thy are supposed to have.

Where does your hen spend her nights? My test to see if a hen is broody enough to trust her with eggs is that she has to send two consecutive nights on the nest instead of in her normal roosting spot. There are a lot of clues a hen might be broody but unless she passes my two consecutive night test I don't consider her broody. When you say " sat on them for several hours but is finished again" it makes me think she's not really broody.

I’m just curious if a) she’s missing her Boo and that’s why she’s suddenly acting like she wants to be a mom b) if anyone has successfully had an EE go broody and hatch eggs (I never have and locally don’t know anyone who has) I know she isn’t “technically” broody - yet. Hence the “?”

She sleeps in the coop where the nesting boxes are.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m just curious if a) she’s missing her Boo and that’s why she’s suddenly acting like she wants to be a mom

I doubt that change would make her want to go broody. I don't know what causes the hormones to change so a hen goes broody but would think it more likely to happen when things ate settled, not a time of change. But that is just me thinking, I don't know for sure. When you remove a fairly dominant flock member the flock dynamics change. Her change in behavior probably is related to the change in flock dynamics.

b) if anyone has successfully had an EE go broody and hatch eggs

Yes, many times. Successfully raise the chicks too. Even if EE's were a breed (which they are not) breeds are manmade. Chickens don't see breed, they see chicken. As much as we try to breed certain traits out of certain breeds they remain chickens. A Leghorn or Rhode Island Red may hardly ever go broody, but some still do.

People really get hung up on the idea that breed defines behaviors. Breeds do have general tendencies, but most people that choose which chickens get to breed look at appearance, not behaviors. If you look at some of the heritage chicken breed sites they may say that there are only a few (4 or 5) flocks in the country that are true heritage flocks. These are breeds that you can buy at every hatchery and shown in practically every chicken show. It's hard to breed fro appearance by itself. It gets a lot harder when you breed for appearance an behaviors. Breeds do have tendencies, if you have enough of a specific breed you'll probably see that. If you only have a few you may not have enough for averages to mean much as each one is an individual. If the person choosing which ones get to breed doesn't use those tendencies in that selection those tendencies are even weaker. A breed "should" have certain behavioral tendencies but in a lot of flocks they mostlt don't.

She sleeps in the coop where the nesting boxes are.

Since she is not on the nest at night she is not broody, you are right about that. I often see a hen show some of the typical signs of going broody (Time on the nest, walking around puffed up and making that broody puck - puck sound, and all the other things) without going full fledged broody. I've seen hens think about going broody for two weeks before they decide one way or the other.

Since you want broody hens, if one ever goes broody put some of her eggs in the incubator once she starts laying again and hatch those. Save some replacements from them, even a rooster. The likelihood of going broody is an inherited trait. That's how I got my flock to where practically all the girls went broody. I noticed a big jump when the son of a broody hen started fathering some. Be careful what you ask for, I had too many going broody and was constantly breaking them in the broody buster. Extra work plus they were not laying eggs.

 

[aart]

Wonders if she 'hiding' from the other birds now that her buddy is gone?

Here are my go-to broody signs:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

​

 

[Shahann]

My brown EE "Fancy" and my variegated EE "Variegated" both successfully hatch eggs and were good mothers. Fancy only had one hatch. Variegated had two. I only let hens hatch every other year. These chickens were pretty tame and let me handle them because I raised them from chicks that an Orpington hatched.

The only issue I had with EE's hatching eggs was that the ones that I had were smaller than my other chickens and could not hatch many eggs. I believe the most one hatched successfully was three. The other hatches were a quantity of one chick and two chicks. (I gave them five eggs each hatch, I think.)

 

[Shahann]

I’m just curious if a) she’s missing her Boo and that’s why she’s suddenly acting like she wants to be a mom

I doubt that change would make her want to go broody. I don't know what causes the hormones to change so a hen goes broody but would think it more likely to happen when things ate settled, not a time of change. But that is just me thinking, I don't know for sure. When you remove a fairly dominant flock member the flock dynamics change. Her change in behavior probably is related to the change in flock dynamics.

b) if anyone has successfully had an EE go broody and hatch eggs

Yes, many times. Successfully raise the chicks too. Even if EE's were a breed (which they are not) breeds are manmade. Chickens don't see breed, they see chicken. As much as we try to breed certain traits out of certain breeds they remain chickens. A Leghorn or Rhode Island Red may hardly ever go broody, but some still do.

People really get hung up on the idea that breed defines behaviors. Breeds do have general tendencies, but most people that choose which chickens get to breed look at appearance, not behaviors. If you look at some of the heritage chicken breed sites they may say that there are only a few (4 or 5) flocks in the country that are true heritage flocks. These are breeds that you can buy at every hatchery and shown in practically every chicken show. It's hard to breed fro appearance by itself. It gets a lot harder when you breed for appearance an behaviors. Breeds do have tendencies, if you have enough of a specific breed you'll probably see that. If you only have a few you may not have enough for averages to mean much as each one is an individual. If the person choosing which ones get to breed doesn't use those tendencies in that selection those tendencies are even weaker. A breed "should" have certain behavioral tendencies but in a lot of flocks they mostlt don't.

She sleeps in the coop where the nesting boxes are.

Since she is not on the nest at night she is not broody, you are right about that. I often see a hen show some of the typical signs of going broody (Time on the nest, walking around puffed up and making that broody puck - puck sound, and all the other things) without going full fledged broody. I've seen hens think about going broody for two weeks before they decide one way or the other.

Since you want broody hens, if one ever goes broody put some of her eggs in the incubator once she starts laying again and hatch those. Save some replacements from them, even a rooster. The likelihood of going broody is an inherited trait. That's how I got my flock to where practically all the girls went broody. I noticed a big jump when the son of a broody hen started fathering some. Be careful what you ask for, I had too many going broody and was constantly breaking them in the broody buster. Extra work plus they were not laying eggs.

Eggcelent info! Thanks!