How do i know if my hen is broody?

[Montanomom3]

Hi! I think one of our hens is broody. How do i know? We have no roosters. She makes weird noises and fluffs her feathers out.

 

[Stepnout]

I'm no expert but she does have that look. If you take her off the nest does she squawk at you, peck at your hand and when you put her down does she stay in a trance state remaining all puffed up? That's what my hen looked like when she went broody. What I did to break her was to lock her out of the nest box/coop everyday after the eggs were laid.

 

[Montanomom3]

I'm no expert but she does have that look. If you take her off the nest does she squawk at you, peck at your hand and when you put her down does she stay in a trance state remaining all puffed up? That's what my hen looked like when she went broody. What I did to break her was to lock her out of the nest box/coop everyday after the eggs were laid.

She does do all of that! My issue is our chickens lay eggs all throughout the day i have some hatching eggs coming mid may that i was gonna incubate so i was thinking about just letting her hatch some but if she’s already doing this i don’t want her to be too unhealthy for sitting so long

 

[Stepnout]

Others have more experience than I do. But I had a hen go broody 3 times in about 4 months. I had to break her each time. I just kept the layers in the pen and put her out to free ranch. I just left her sulking beside the pen. Not sure if you free ranch but you can also leave her out with one of her sisters after they lay. Again that's if you free range and she is used to that sort of thing. If not you can put her in a steel dog crate bedside the pen with water and food. She might go back broody later. Wait till more knowledgeable folks answer.
Maybe you can get eggs earlier. They wont hatch till later in May.
Good Luck

 

[Montanomom3]

Others have more experience than I do. But I had a hen go broody 3 times in about 4 months. I had to break her each time. I just kept the layers in the pen and put her out to free ranch. I just left her sulking beside the pen. Not sure if you free ranch but you can also leave her out with one of her sisters after they lay. Again that's if you free range and she is used to that sort of thing. If not you can put her in a steel dog crate bedside the pen with water and food. She might go back broody later. Wait till more knowledgeable folks answer.
Maybe you can get eggs earlier. They wont hatch till later in May.
Good Luck

I know that’s the only thing that sucks. We hatched her and they others i have last spring in February

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Can you get hold of some fertile eggs to give her?

 

[Montanomom3]

Can you get hold of some fertile eggs to give her?

I have some coming may 20 but that’s the soonest i can get them as i already ordered them and they have a $10 cancellation fee and our town has a limit on chickens

 

[sealer39]

Chickens don’t have the best timing do they. Same thing just happened to me earlier this year. I had a hen go broody and the only eggs I want hatched weren’t fertile at the time so I broke her. Less than a month later the eggs are fertile and no broody chickens.

Your right though. It’s not a good idea to let her stay broody for that long.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My test for a broody hen is that she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her normal spot. There are a lot of other signs that she might be broody, but those come with a might. Some typical mights were mentioned by Stepnout. Walking around making a clucking sound and all fluffed up when she is off the nest is another might. I've had hens do all those and not really flip over to full broody mode where she deserves eggs. My two consecutive nights test has not failed me yet.

I'm OK with waiting two weeks before giving a broody eggs but that's my limit. Before a hen even starts to lay eggs she stores up excess fat. I've butchered enough hens to see that. That excess fat is what she mostly lives off of while broody. That way she can stay on the nest a lot more instead of having to get off to search for food. Broody hens typically leave the nest to eat and drink and take a poop. I've seen a broody come off the nest twice a day for over an hour each time in hot weather. In cooler weather I've seen a hen come off once for about 15 minutes once a day. Often I don't see them off the nest at all but since she is not pooping in the nest I know she is coming off.

The way I break a broody hen is to put her in an elevated wire bottom cage for 72 hours. I give her food and water but no nest. Others use different methods but I try to keep I as simple as I can. Usually 72 hours is enough but if she goes back to the nest when I let her out she goes back in the broody buster. I built a special cage for that, many people use a wire dog crate and set it up on blocks.

 

[Montanomom3]

Thank you all I’m pretty confident she is broody. I have been taking the eggs from her the other hens lay. None of our eggs are gonna be fertile lol. I have also had to take her out of the nest and set her outside so she will run around and free range with the others. But she sits for a while super pissed fluffed up and yelling at me. She also sometimes just jumps right back into the nesting box. I’m not sure if she stays in the nest overnight as I’ve been taking the eggs from her.