Free-Range Hen Does Interesting Things Pre-Broody and Broody

[centrarchid]

Watch if she allows what she does when coming off the nest.

 

[chicksurreal]

I'm very interested in her behavior. I can't imagine having 9 broodys! Amazing.

 

[centrarchid]

Amazing maybe. It will be a challenge to keep hens with broods spread out. We are reliant upon natural forages for the first month or so. The broods do better is the ground is not overly picked over and the hens do not squabble. Chicks also do better when not underfoot of the adult population. As hens are spread out I will be concerned about roosting sites as those are frequently the resource of greatest contention. Sites need to not have standing water during heavy rains. They also need to be easy to place pens over at night. A current problem is the vegetation has not yet grown up enough to provide cover, especially for loafing during the day. Hens will move broods to keep them near cover and they can often moving them beyond the core area where fences and dogs are most effective at providing protection, The real fun will be realized as the American Doms start coming out of the brooder as they are less predictable in their ranging habits and frequently get into conflicts with broody hens,

 

[chicksurreal]

Amazing maybe. It will be a challenge to keep hens with broods spread out. We are reliant upon natural forages for the first month or so. The broods do better is the ground is not overly picked over and the hens do not squabble. Chicks also do better when not underfoot of the adult population. As hens are spread out I will be concerned about roosting sites as those are frequently the resource of greatest contention. Sites need to not have standing water during heavy rains. They also need to be easy to place pens over at night. A current problem is the vegetation has not yet grown up enough to provide cover, especially for loafing during the day. Hens will move broods to keep them near cover and they can often moving them beyond the core area where fences and dogs are most effective at providing protection, The real fun will be realized as the American Doms start coming out of the brooder as they are less predictable in their ranging habits and frequently get into conflicts with broody hens,

I hope you post pictures when you can. It sounds like you have your hands full! Chicken behavior is so interesting.

 

[centrarchid]

Two hens due to come off nest today have made a major change in behavior relative to the earlier stages of clutch incubation. Normally such hens are very difficult to sneak up on at night without them having their heads up in the alert position with eyes open. Tonight when getting back from work I walked pens to verify containment status and noticed both hen in question were sleeping with heads tucked into wing which is more typical of the general population. Why the change? I was able to disturb one before she awakened.

 

[Drewman]

That is neat that you let them make nests outside! I've been around the chicken world most of my life (23 years haha) and have never heard of anyone doing that. Kudos to you! Recently, a year old hen of mine has been acting broody for the past 5 days or so, but never sitting for more than a few hours. She also has not plucked out her underside feathers until today. This morning, she plucked out a few of her belly feathers and sat on her eggs. A few hours later, I watched as the crazy lady preceded to jump out of the box, skip around the farm, scratch the grass a few times, jump in the air, run in a few circles, and sprint up the hill towards my house. Quite an event! She squawked for a few minutes so I picked her up and brought her to the flock. She was grumpy around them, but she didn't want anything to do with her nest. Earlier, when I saw that she was nesting, I placed some eggs from other hens under her so she had 5 in total. Bad move on my part? Thoughts/opinions?

 

[centrarchid]

I like to have a given hen incubate between eight and twelve eggs / embryos so as to take full advantage of her capacity as an incubator. Also of the now eleven currently broody hens, none has pulled feathers from breast to line nest. The feather loss or appearing in nest is likely to due to some other mechanism.


Try not to bother her much. Odds are she is off the nest less than you think. Check her nest after dark to see if she is on it.

 

[chicksurreal]

Two hens due to come off nest today have made a major change in behavior relative to the earlier stages of clutch incubation. Normally such hens are very difficult to sneak up on at night without them having their heads up in the alert position with eyes open. Tonight when getting back from work I walked pens to verify containment status and noticed both hen in question were sleeping with heads tucked into wing which is more typical of the general population. Why the change? I was able to disturb one before she awakened.

Very interesting. I wonder if chicks have hatched?

 

[centrarchid]

Not as of last night. When I checked hens were much more defensive using vigorous pecks with one threatening to flog. These birds are can be more capable than average if not conditioned as chicks.

 

[centrarchid]

Hatch for hen nesting on ground looks to be very low if not zero. Another hen initiating incubation on same day has complete hatch. If no chicks by tomorrow, then clutch will be busted up.