Is She Broody or Not, for Heavens Sake?! Get on with it, Olivia!!

[speckledhen]

I know what a broody hen is like and I know sometimes it takes them awhile to lead up to it, leaving clues and hints along the way, but this one has me puzzled. Olivia is a 25 week old crossbreed who has been laying about a month. Her mother was a Barred Rock, her father was a standard Cochin/Silkie cross. Ok, I know it's in her blood, LOL, but what is she doing?? For two weeks, every time I approach her anywhere on the property, she screeches, lowers her head, drops her wings a little and puffs up like a beachball. I swear, she looks like one of those fat Weebles plastic airplanes when she does it,LOL-you remember Weebles, dont you? "Weebles wobble, but they dont fall down!" was the commercial. Yes, she does it on the nest, too, but I have several hens that dont like you to look at them when they're on the nest, so they screech at me. She also does it if any of the other chickens approach her from behind suddenly.
This was typical broody behavior I got from my Buff Orp hen, so I recognize it, but she is still laying, not guarding the nest, not spending an inordinate amount of time in it, either. Do you think she's working up to going broody or is she just the crabbiest little poufy-headed cutie pie on the planet? I wish she'd get on with it if she's going broody so we can get her a couple of chicks hatched before the dead of winter here. Sunny is also making some broody noises even though she just hatched chicks on Mother's Day this year. I don't need two broodies, I really don't!

 

[Kelly FG]

Well I've got my 2nd broody Penny(EE) in the nest now. However my Top Hen Daphne(black aussie)always runs around puffed up-she doesn't screech at me but she does it to the rest of the flock. She is still laying(she's not going to win any awards) & she doesn't care at all about the nest. Its some sort of dominant behavior I guess.

 

[Wolfpacker]

What's a Weeble???

 

[speckledhen]

Yup, that's a weeble, LOL. They may have changed, but when my sons were little, there was this little fat airplane and I swear, that's what Olivia looks like. She sounds, however, like some harpy gone wild. I just dont get her behavior. She acts broody, but she just isn't going to the next level, if you know what I mean.