Hen made her own nest in brush pile..... Is she broody?

[lkilkenny]

One of our hens, who we've always called escapee, built a nest in a nearby brush pile. We discovered yesterday that she had been laying eggs in there ( 17 of them). She has always been the first one over the fence, but until yesterday, had always returned back into the yard on her own. When we finally found her on her nest yesterday she was all flattened out on the nest and really mad when we pulled her out. Is she broody? Are the eggs any good? We tried moving the eggs to one of the nesting boxes in their coop but she lost interest once we moved the eggs. Does she just not like the nesting boxes? We really don't want to leave her outside the chicken yard as we have quite a few predators. Any ideas for getting her to lay in the coop? Thanks for any insight.
Should have mentioned we have 6 other hens who all lay in the coop

 

[Johnn]

One of our hens, who we've always called escapee, built a nest in a nearby brush pile. We discovered yesterday that she had been laying eggs in there ( 17 of them). She has always been the first one over the fence, but until yesterday, had always returned back into the yard on her own. When we finally found her on her nest yesterday she was all flattened out on the nest and really mad when we pulled her out. Is she broody? Are the eggs any good? We tried moving the eggs to one of the nesting boxes in their coop but she lost interest once we moved the eggs. Does she just not like the nesting boxes? We really don't want to leave her outside the chicken yard as we have quite a few predators. Any ideas for getting her to lay in the coop? Thanks for any insight.
Should have mentioned we have 6 other hens who all lay in the coop

If she wasn't there overnight then she probably wasn't broody. You can test if the eggs are good to eat by putting them in a bowl of water. If they float, they are bad and if they stay at the bottom they are fresh. If she is wanting to go broody, she will do it where she lays her clutch of eggs which is outside. If she does go broody, you can try move her once she has proved she is serious.

 

[lkilkenny]

Thanks johnn. Guess we'll have to keep checking her nest.....let the flock out this morning and she immediately jumped the fence and headed off to her nest.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Just because they stash eggs does not mean they are broody, some breeds that pretty much never go broody are my worst egg hiders. However, generally when mine ... stash eggs, flatten on egg pile and act nasty, stay with nest past bed time, go back to nest after you have moved them off in the evening etc etc, they are broody. Most will not allow you to move them with or without eggs to another nest, they will keep trying to go back to the nest they picked where they have been laying the eggs to set. (Some really broody breeds like Silkies though, will let you do about anything and will set where ever you put them.) If she is broody and is wanting to set now, she has probably already stopped laying eggs or will very shortly. You will probably have confine her for awhile to where you want her laying eggs and to break her from being broody. Also destroy the nest she made and try to eliminate places where she feels comfortable hiding eggs outside.
How much luck you have with the above will depend to some extent on what breed she is and how determined it is.