Is my hen going broody?

madlaina

Chirping
May 12, 2018
56
125
73
Victoria, Australia
We have 7 hens, 6 of which are 7-8 months old. They are all laying and have done so for maybe 8-9 weeks.
One of them is taking longer ans longer to lay her egg and will sit in the nesting box for up to 1 hour at a time.
Tonight, when I went to lock the chickens up, I couldn't find her. I managed to get all the other ones to go in the coop and walked around looking for her. Just out of habit I looked in the nesting boxes and there she was. I tried to pick her up to move her, but she puffed herself up, yelled at me and pecked my hand.
She wasn't in there 1,5 hours earlier when I got home from work and DP said she had been walking around the yard and dust bathing earlier.
Could she be going broody or was she just in a foul mood for no particular reason?
 
We don't have a rooster, so no fertile eggs. We're also just about to go on vacation. Not a good time for her to go broody. I'll have to watch her tomorrow when I'm home, will move her to the small coop if she spends too much time in the nest box.
 
This is how ours started. We have 3 Black Australorps and one started out this way...staying in nest box growling and puffing up and pecking if you reached in. Despite tossing her out of the nest box and out of the coop (and closing coop door) for several hours a day, she became full-on broody. So, we decided (on a whim) to give her chicks to see if she would raise them. She accepted them a few days ago and is finally up and about off the nest!

Of course, going on vacation you don’t want to do that. I would suggest putting her in the little coop like you said and making sure she has food/water and see where she is at when you return. Otherwise, if you have enough nest boxes, leave her there and fore warn the person who will be tending the chickens not to disturb her, and then break her broodiness when you return.

Now that we know what broodiness looks like, We will probably be more proactive about breaking a broody as there are only so many batches of chicks one can handle.
 
94A078E4-7D91-4F9E-9CDC-E7E15FEDB068.jpeg 356A16DF-F3F3-46A7-935B-1B08057F9F1F.jpeg I went back outside in the dark last night and relocated Hazel to the perch. This morning she got up with the others and was milling around for maybe half an hour, but sticking close to the coop. Then she disappeared - straight back into the nesting box. That’s where I found her this afternoon when I got home from work. She was sitting on 2 eggs, including one of her own, and acting extremely defensive. Sooo, now she is in chicken jail.
 
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This morning, after 3 days in chicken jail, Miss Hazel spoke to me in a civilised manner, so I let her out to see what she does. So far she has been roaming all over the yard with the other chickens and has shown no interest in the nesting boxes. I hope this is it and she is over her broodiness..
 

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