Hello, New Member with question

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Royal Red

Royal Red

Songster
9 Years
Apr 15, 2013
54
10
111
I live in the city and have six chickens. Four different breeds that started laying eggs August 1, 2013. This is our first winter and we have both a timer for light and heat lamp. I average five eggs a day, but two days ago my White and smallest breed Ornamental Bantam has been sitting on the eggs in the nesting box. I read that this behavior can be associated with being broddy. I am not aware that I have a roster in my group, so is this normal or should I be looking for something more. I have not touched the eggs she is sitting on, but I have brought her food which she accepted and scarfed down. Any suggestions on what I need to do next or what I should be looking for?

 
It sounds like you may have a broody girl. Hens do not need a rooster to go broody, but they do need one to hatch chicks. What you do next is entirely up to you. Do you want babies? If so, take advantage of her and order/buy some fertile eggs. Put her away from the others in a quiet place with food and water. I put my broody hens in a dog crate in the garage and kind of build a makeshift barrier around it so she can move around a little bit. If you don't want chicks, there are various methods of breaking broodiness. I never use them. I just let the hens do their natural job. Oh, and if you do move her, it's usually best to do it after dark, when she's groggy with sleep to lessen the stress on her. Same thing when you give her new eggs to set on. It's just easier on the bird when they're kind of out of it.
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Hi there,
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and welcome to BYC!

The sure fire way to tell if you have a broody is...she will growl at you when you try to move her or take her eggs....she might bite you when you try to take her eggs...and when she comes out of the box for a poop, eating or drinking, she will cluck cluck cluck...and as stated above, you don't need a rooster for a bird to go broody. Broodiness is controlled by hormones. She the hormones are raging, the bird wants to set on eggs.

Good luck with your babies and enjoy BYC!
 
Welcome to BYC. Just as the previous poster has said, you do not need to have a rooster for a hen to go broody. You can either get her some fertile eggs, chicks, or break her broodiness as suggested.
 
Oh my. Sounds like I need more information. Winter seems like the worst time to encourage her broodiness because we live in Michigan. That being said, can I move her tonight off the eggs, but will she just go back to the nesting box the next day? Trying to get an idea of how to pospone her broodiness, if that is even possible without breaking her.
 
She will most probably go right back to the nest tomorrow if you just take her off of it, even if you close the nest she will probably just pick another one to set in. Broodys can be darn persistent. If you aren't going to get her eggs to set on in the next week or so, I would just go ahead and break her since you don't want her brooding for months and months, since they don't tend to eat right etc. Bantams tend to be pretty broody and she will probably just go broody again in 3-4 months if you break her now.
 

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