How do you know if a hen is broody?

[write2caroline]

One of my girls has made a habit of hogging the nest- I have mulitple nest boxes but the girls all have one favorite. Dot, will be 1 on 5/15. When Betsy tried to get into the nest she made a wierd sound and refused to move. I had to lift her out - she had already laid her egg and there was nothing but golf balls in the nest.

What are the signs of a broody hen and about when does it start?

Caroline

 

[Ridgerunner]

It can start any time after they start laying or it may never start. It depends on the individual hen and her hormones.

There are many different signs that a hen might be broody. The trance look when she is on the nest, a certain clucking, a certain attitude, defending her nest, the large smelly poos, plucking feathers from her own breast to line the nest and make it easier to transmit heat and humidity to the eggs. Any of these may or may not indicate a serious broody. The one I go by. If she spends two nights in a row on the nest instead of in her favorite roosting place, she is broody.

 

[BigSkyChickens]

My blue cochin is broody! She is one stubborn girl and kind of "mental" to begin with.

She has plucked out most of the feathers under her chest, and she had to be removed from the nest over and over again last weekend.

She definitely has the "trance" look in her eyes when she's on the nest. She has a really persistent little cluck when whe is trying to get to the nest.

The other broody sign is that she stopped laying eggs the other day.

She's currently isolated in "broody jail" which is the pen built for the new chicks coming next week - this is to keep her out the nest.

I'm really hoping to break her broodiness soon! She would sleep in the nest if she could, but each night I put her up on the roost with the other girls.

Good luck.

 

[Uzuri]

Had she *just* laid an egg?

Mine get nasty at me when they've just laid and are resting (with the exception of Bossy, who lights out of the nestbox like something's biting her bum). She may just have been sore and grumpy.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I know my hen is broody when she gets all puffy, and sits on the nest all day, and if I go look at her, she gets all velociraptor at me... even the noise! If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the Jurassic park where that kid is lost, and his parents get that guy to go get him... starts with a para-sail and a guy and a kid, and then people get et.

 

[houndit]

They like to make a almost constant clucking noise when they are moved from the nest. They are really fluffed up, and grumpy!

 

[write2caroline]

Oh yes, I know the velosa raptor sound....she made it when Betsy tried to get in the nest and she hadn't just layed the egg. She had layed it in the morning because it was cold when I took it out. Dot's eggs are large, long and pointy. She was sitting on Golf balls. Since I so rudely took her out of the nest she has not tried to hang out there but I have pushed her out of the nest at nighttime.

Caroline