I've seen some hens, not most but some, move to a hidden (feral) nest before they go broody. Not all hens that hide a nest go broody but some do. I generally retrain them to lay in a coop nest when they try to hide one so it's not a perfect test. Some of the hens I retrain to lay in the coop do go broody within a month, I have noticed a correlation, but certainly not all of them do. I'd say most do not.I found (again) most hens lay any of their eggs in a human provided nest box, move to another location for egg laying if enough options are available.
I strongly believe that. I've had hens act broody during the day with all the different signs. Spending time on the nest, walk around puffed up and pucking, avoiding the main flock, whatever. Some for a day or two, some for as much as two weeks. Some of these finally commit to being broody, some never do. This is why I never give eggs to a hen until she spends two consecutive nights on the nest. So far that two consecutive night test has worked but since you are dealing with living animals it will probably fail me one day.is it possible to be at the cusp of going broody, but some factor being off, and thus never committing?
Maybe off topic a bit but maybe not. There are two types of red sex links sold. Some are the commercial egg laying hybrids like the ISA Browns that have been bred to be egg laying machines and to not go broody.RSLs are tricky indeed.
The other type is when you cross a rooster with the gold genetics with a hen with the silver genetics so you can tell sex at hatch by down color. Say a Rhode Island Red or Buff Orpington rooster over a Light Sussex or Delaware hen. These are going to inherit their traits or behaviors on broodiness or anything else from their parents. All red Sex Link has to do with is down color at hatch. Them being a red sex link had nothing to do with egg laying ability or anything else. It depends on what chickens were their parents.
I get my new breeds from hatcheries. One time I wanted a new breed to play with genetics so I got a half dozen. To fill out my order I got 20 Red Sex Link males of the type that had dual purpose parents (Rhode Island Red rooster on a Rhode Island White hen) to butcher. Those grew to a size like Rhode Island Reds, not the size of an ISA Brown.I've never had a male, don't know if they're even sold.