Is broody behavior gradual or sudden?

[Yvette In California]

This is a great question, and let me share my limited experience.

"Lets get silkies," he said. "They are so cute and sweet," he said.
Holy freakin' Gawd can silkies *brood* or what!

Our white silkie Poppy was the oldest girl in our flock, first to lay, and OMG, first to go broody and it was over and over and over and over and over. Had to do the broody jail just to assure she was eating and drinking. And oh yes those growling dinosaur sounds! Our 6'4" friend was caring for the girls while we were out and he was terrified of this little broody girl. Whom wasn't even the size of his giant foot.

That said, her sister, Dottie, a tiny black silkie, never went broody her first year and a half. Consistent egg layer, delightful, curious, silly girl. Then suddenly, this last May, the look in her eye changed, and there she went. Growling, puffing up, dinosaur all the way. But wait, there's more. No 21 day cycle. Oh no, my friends. She stayed broody as hell until nearly August. We tried the ice packs on her nether regions. Nope. Tried broody jail. She ate and drank. So we had that going for us. But dammit, stubborn became her middle name. Finally when the brood broke, we were shocked. She went for about a month and a half then in November, she started up again. So, here we are, and it will be what it will be.

Cheers from Southern California.

 

[natalie327]

I have one hen who has gone broody many times over the recent years. I've noticed she will not lay an egg on her first day of full commitment to the nest (she will sit there on either nothing, a golf ball, or another hen's egg), and also in the days prior to deciding to sit full-time, she will have plucked out several small, soft chest feathers (both to line the nest, and also sometimes just while she's out and about in the yard). I've read they do this to create a bit of a bald spot on their chest so it can make contact with the clutch of eggs and better hold in the humidity for them. So amazing!

I've never kept a rooster and she has never been fertilized, so when she shows me she's committed to brooding, I get her a clutch of fertilized eggs and provide them for her just after night time. She has always very happily received them Good luck with your dinos!