Leghorn Going Broody?

[aplckee]

Hi! I have a Leghorn who seems to be showing broody behavior but not exactly at the same time. I heard Leghorns rarely go broody so her behavior baffles me.

What I found strange was how she would go back to sit on the eggs. I thought at first that she just liked to sit there and chill. She would keep going back and forth between digging around & eating, to going back to her nesting spot and sitting on the eggs. I assumed she is not broody as she spends time just doing normal chicken things but ofc she always goes back to that nest. There is currently 3 eggs. When she was trying to settle back down on the nest, she noticed that one of her eggs were not under her. So she would roll it back under her and adjusts herself to make sure she can get it under.

Is it normal for chickens to do this? Be attached to their eggs even when not broody? To the point where she feels the need to roll it back under when its not under her? She honestly doesn't seem broody to me as she will get up, dig around, and eat/drink. As I'm typing this, she just got back on her nest after digging around and eating.

 

[Amc29]

How much time does she spend off the nest? Hens will still get up to eat and drink while broody. Our last hen that was broody would get up several times during her summer brooding (not the best momma...she had previously hatched one chick and either killed it or allowed the other hen to kill it...and then with her larger clutch she abandoned the eggs right at the end and we did not have an incubator set up ).

 

[aart]

She may be 'pre-broody'.
Even a non broody will tuck/arranged eggs and spend time on the nests 'lounging'.

These are the signs to look for:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, doesn't she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.