How to know if hen "goes broody" ???

[MareeZoCool]

I am so confused! my friend told me my hen will "go broody" if she wants to hatch out her own clutch of eggs. Another friend told me to leave her with 3 eggs when I see that she's "broody". Yet ANOTHER person told me the hen will sit on her nest, not coming out except to grab a quick meal once maybe twice a day.
Can anyone explain what I might be looking for, before I snatch & cook all her chilluns?

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Well if you WANT a hen to be broody...stop collecting eggs for a day or so and see who sits on them. Hens go broody when they want to, not necessarily when we want them to. If you have one you think MAY be broody, leave her some eggs for a couple days and see what she does. If she is in the nest every time you go out, chances are she's broody. I have a broody right now that refuses to get out of the nest even when I take the eggs. I may have to break her if she doesn't get it soon because I don't want a broody.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are several different signs that a hen might be broody. They don't all react the same way. Some look like they are in a trance on the nest. Some make a distinctive clucking sound. Some will fluff up to try to look big and imposing if you get close. Some will peck you if you stick your hand into the nest. Some will even go to the extreme of trying to flog you if you threaten their nest. Some pluck the feathers off their breast to feather the nest and bare their breast to better transfer heat to the eggs. When she takes a dump, it is usually big and stinky.

Until you are familiar with these signs, the one method I'd suggest you use to determine if a hen is broody is to see where she is at night. If she stays on her nest all night and almost all day, she is broody. A broody will usually leave her nest once, maybe twice, a day to get a little food, water, take a constitutional, and maybe a quick dust bath. But she spends the rest of the time in the nest.

Since it sounds like you are not real familiar with broody hens, I'll include a link that I think might hep you. If she is broody, you have some decisions to make.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

I just saw Cindiloohoo's post. I would not leave real eggs in the nest until I saw she is really broody. You can use fake eggs like golf balls, wooden eggs, plastic Easter eggs, anything like that to see how she reacts, but I think leaving eggs in the coop overnight is an invitation to egg eating preditors, like rats. They are also more apt to get broken accidentally. And you need to start all the eggs at the same time. I would collect all eggs every day to help keep them cleaner until I was ready to start them.

 

[MareeZoCool]

Thanks for your great replies! I'm just over-anxious, want to know what I'm looking for, my girl is just over 6 months, (hatched June 28, '09).~ Yes, I'm a chickenlover.