I guess I have a brooding chicken???

[1indian]

I'm new to chickens. Bought some this spring and wasn't prepared for them to start laying at four months. I didn't (and still don't) have their laying house built.

One of my chickens has started roosting in the little hutch where all the chickens are laying (all in the same nest,btw). All my chickens are hens and I get that they don't understand their eggs won't hatch. She's on that nest when I get there after night. I assume she gets off during the day because there are multiple eggs in the nest which I empty every day.

So is this brooding or something else? And if it is brooding, what should I do? Everyone seems to be laying like normal

 

[Americano Blue]

I'm new to chickens. Bought some this spring and wasn't prepared for them to start laying at four months. I didn't (and still don't) have their laying house built.

One of my chickens has started roosting in the little hutch where all the chickens are laying (all in the same nest,btw). All my chickens are hens and I get that they don't understand their eggs won't hatch. She's on that nest when I get there after night. I assume she gets off during the day because there are multiple eggs in the nest which I empty every day.

So is this brooding or something else? And if it is brooding, what should I do? Everyone seems to be laying like normal

Yes this is normal behavior. Do how many nesting boxes do you have? if you only have 1, the others might be laying around her. She will get off to eat drink and poop, then go back to her eggs. First off you should move her into a broody breaker away from the others. When one goes broody, it won't be long for the others to join her. My broody breaker is a large wire dog crate with chicken wire on the bottom, food and water dish and a perch. I would look up videos and other threads about "how to brake a broody hen" or "how to make a broody breaker". Good luck with your hens and I hope this helps.

 

[1indian]

Yes this is normal behavior. Do how many nesting boxes do you have? if you only have 1, the others might be laying around her. She will get off to eat drink and poop, then go back to her eggs. First off you should move her into a broody breaker away from the others. When one goes broody, it won't be long for the others to join her. My broody breaker is a large wire dog crate with chicken wire on the bottom, food and water dish and a perch. I would look up videos and other threads about "how to brake a broody hen" or "how to make a broody breaker". Good luck with your hens and I hope this helps.

Thanks for the response. I thought she must be laying on the eggs only at night since all the other chickens are laying their eggs in the same nest. Due to my work schedule I'm only home at night except on the weekends so I haven't been able to look in during the day - and this just started on Wed. Luckily, I took the afternoon off today so I'll walk down there in a little while and see what she's doing. Also luckily, even though they are all White Rocks (and look alike), she's my biggest hen and has the biggest, floppiest comb. I should be able to pick her out on the off chance she's not in the hutch.

I don't have laying boxes yet. I just have the small hutch with hay in it that I bought when they were tiny. They've made a little nest in the hay and that's where they are laying. Had no idea they'd start so early. Everything I read said it'd be 6-9 months. I have the skeleton of the laying house built but haven't finished it out yet. I'll probably have nine or ten boxes once it's done.

I'll check out those videos. I'd never heard of a "broody breaker". Thanks again!

 

[Americano Blue]

Thanks for the response. I thought she must be laying on the eggs only at night since all the other chickens are laying their eggs in the same nest. Due to my work schedule I'm only home at night except on the weekends so I haven't been able to look in during the day - and this just started on Wed. Luckily, I took the afternoon off today so I'll walk down there in a little while and see what she's doing. Also luckily, even though they are all White Rocks (and look alike), she's my biggest hen and has the biggest, floppiest comb. I should be able to pick her out on the off chance she's not in the hutch.

I don't have laying boxes yet. I just have the small hutch with hay in it that I bought when they were tiny. They've made a little nest in the hay and that's where they are laying. Had no idea they'd start so early. Everything I read said it'd be 6-9 months. I have the skeleton of the laying house built but haven't finished it out yet. I'll probably have nine or ten boxes once it's done.

I'll check out those videos. I'd never heard of a "broody breaker". Thanks again!

no prob. If she truly is broody, she will be on the nest almost 24/7

 

[1indian]

Yep. She's on there during the day. *sigh* I guess she's going into isolation.

 

[Americano Blue]

Yep. She's on there during the day. *sigh* I guess she's going into isolation.

Most will come out of it quickly. the point of the broody breaker is to make brooding uncomfortable. Good luck

 

[1indian]

Here she is in jail. So far she doesn't seem to mind it much. BTW, all those white-ish things on the ground are zucchini and cucumber.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/1Indian/broody_zpsf50aaa6b.jpg

 

[aart]

It's best to raise the wire crate of off the ground by at least few inches, I used some bricks.
The crate should be bare of any nesting material/bedding, just bare wire on the bottom.
Good to keep her jail in with or very near the other birds so you don't have re-integration problems.

I was able to let my broody out a couple times a day, but was using a much smaller wire crate, to stretch her legs, dust bathe and mingle...but I could watch if she went back to the nest I'd put her back in the crate....took 3 days before she went to roost with the others instead of heading back to a nest.

 

[Americano Blue]

It's best to raise the wire crate of off the ground by at least few inches, I used some bricks.
The crate should be bare of any nesting material/bedding, just bare wire on the bottom.
Good to keep her jail in with or very near the other birds so you don't have re-integration problems.

I was able to let my broody out a couple times a day, but was using a much smaller wire crate, to stretch her legs, dust bathe and mingle...but I could watch if she went back to the nest I'd put her back in the crate....took 3 days before she went to roost with the others instead of heading back to a nest.

I put a roost in my crate as well. I like to use rabbit wire because their feet won't get trapped. I never put the broody breaker with the birds because I was told they would all go broody,