Is she normal?

[gritsar]

Awhile back I posted about Lil' Bit acting broody-ish, but it only lasted about a day.
Still, ever since that time she's become a nest hog. She sits on a nest at least 5 hrs. a day. Is that normal?
I don't think she's truly broody because she will eventually leave the nest and join the flock outside.

 

[speckledhen]

I've had a couple hens act similarly when they were working up to broody. Sometimes, it was over a month before they started sitting for real.

 

[jlmann]

How long has it been since she started laying eggs? My birds always seem to stay longer once their laying cycle is close to being over . Maybe you just have a lazy chicken?

 

[gritsar]

Thanks Cyn.
I kinda suspected that's what it was going to lead to. She's always growled at me when she's sitting on a nest. Now she's started growling at her sisters too; the minute they walk in the coop.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Lil' Bit started laying in her 7th month, if I recall correctly. She's a few weeks shy of a year old now.

 

[jlmann]

So she should be ready for a molt and a break from laying pretty soon. She could definately try to go broody if she is going to be a "motherly" bird. Unfortunately I haven't had one for years....

 

[A2SciTeach]

I'm not trying to hijack here, but I have a Buff Orpington who has been laying since the first of January and today refuses to get up off the nest. I managed to get one egg out from under her, but she's sitting on everybody else's eggs too (probably 4 or 5). I don't have any roosters. Can she be broody???

If so, do I just put on my gloves and nab the eggs out from under her?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If she's gone broody and it would be useless for her to be (no rooster) then I would suggest you remove her and the eggs from the nest.
If she still insists on sitting on an empty nest, you may have to isolate her. Put her in a cage, with no nesting materials whatsoever and wait her out.
There are other methods used for breaking a broody. Just do use the search feature.

 

[jlmann]

you could order some fertile eggs to hatch or seperate her in a wire cage off of the floor with only food and water and no nest/bedding to make a nest to break her of broodiness. It seems to me that broodiness is breed and individual bird specific. I used to have game hens and they were really broody birds. We had a lot of fun letting them hatch eggs and stuff , but now I only have mainly production egg-layers and they never really seem to go broody

 

[Laskaland]

Quote:
Here's what I do... I distract her with a treat, and grab for the eggs, and then I rub her tummy so she knows I am not the enemy... (they love worms)