HELP PLEASE...Is my Hen about to go Broody?

[GhostRider65]

My Barred Rock peaches is being very strange the last 3 nights at roosting time she gets in her nest box and stays there all night long, at 6 am she is out eating then seems normal most of the day, but she stays in the nest box after she lays her egg for hours............ and I can't collect them unless I cherish getting bitten.......LOl she is also growling whenever I'm near gathering eggs???? is this normal is she sick or just thinking about brooding chicks already..... it has been unseasonably warm here 40's the last week........... so what could it be? TY Kim

 

[satay]

Sounds like she is gowing broody. Mark some eggs for he to sit on if you want her to hatch some . Then just take away the ones egg day that are'nt marked.

 

[JEB NC 10]

Sounds exactly how my Golden Comet acted when she went broody last June. And getting her some eggs to hatch was the best thing I've done - my 4 yr old daughter loved the whole experience. I got 10 fertile eggs from a friend (we didn't have a roo at the time) and she hatched out 8 (4 cockerels; 4 pullets) and faithfully tended to all the chicks. At the time we only had 4 laying hens. Against a lot of advice I read through on here, I left the girl to sit in the coop with everyone else. She'd usually get up from the nest for about an hour mid-morning to free range and again for about an hour in the evening. July 4 we woke up and were greeted that morning with the peeps of little chicks. Here again, going against what most said, I left the chicks in the coop with everyone else. From day one with the new chicks, I simply modified the coop - added a chick-friendly ramp - so that the chicks could go out and free range with Momma. I gave them access to chick starter feed, but from what I could tell Momma was finding most of what they ate out around the yard/garden. We ended up keeping all the chicks up until a few weeks ago. I have kept a roo and 1 pullet....the rest I ended up taking back to my friend's farm that I got the original fertile eggs from - bringing everything full circle I guess.

 

[GhostRider65]

I was hoping I was wrong ...its too early in this cold butt state to hatch eggs....... I have been picking them uo when she gets up tpo eat....... should I give her some eggs or wait and pray she gives up for now? Its still below freezing at night here and even though its been nice the last 5 days it won''t stay ....its cold coming yet last year we had 30 some inches of snow and cold in March... if she sits eggs now they will born just in time for a couple good snow storms..... and my brooder box is out in the garage....... what woulf you guys do...???

 

[mlm Mike]

I was hoping I was wrong ...its too early in this cold butt state to hatch eggs....... I have been picking them uo when she gets up tpo eat....... should I give her some eggs or wait and pray she gives up for now? Its still below freezing at night here and even though its been nice the last 5 days it won''t stay ....its cold coming yet last year we had 30 some inches of snow and cold in March... if she sits eggs now they will born just in time for a couple good snow storms..... and my brooder box is out in the garage....... what woulf you guys do...???

If you don't want her hatching, keep gathering the eggs. You could also force her out of the nest box if you catch her.