may have a broody

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i have a rhode island red and i think she is siting on eggs. she laid about 7:00 this morning in a nest along with 14 bantam eggs already in it cause we where hoping we would get a broody and the rhode island red is still on the nest and i lifted her up to see if she was laying and she had one of her eggs and the 14 bantam eggs and when she sat back down she kinda waddled or that's what it looked like to me and she kinda yells( as i call it) or makes a funny noise when i try to reach under her and she normally runs away when i get near her but hasn't done it this morning could she be broody

 

[Ridgerunner]

She could be going broody, but don't get your hopes up too high. Many chickens give signs of going broody but do not. Broody hens do not lay eggs. They do often lay pretty regularly before going broody, but once they are broody, they stop laying.

To me, the best way to tell if a hen is really broody is that she will stay on the nest at night instead of in her favorite roosting place. Them being in a trance on the nest, clucking like broodies do, fluffing up when they walk around, staying on the nest for a long time, having bad attitudes around other chickens or you are all indications, but I've seen all that behavior without them actually being broody. A good broody will stay on the nest all night and almost all day, leaving just once or twice a day to eat, drink, poop, and maybe take a dust bath, then back on the job.

Good luck!!

 

[feathersnuggles]

I recently had a broody so the subject is still rather fresh for me. On another post I made a list of "broody clues" Here they are. It may help you read the clues if she is really broody:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3985698#p3985698

 

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well she isn't sleeping on the nest so she is not broody

 

[feathersnuggles]

She might be getting broody. My broody gradually got to that point. She wasn't trying to spend the night on the nest until she was QUITE broody. At that point, they want to spend all their time on the nest; they become GLUED to the nest.

 

[Gonda]

I've just had two broody hen experiences back to back. They both started sitting on a nest all day and night, and making different types of clucking noises than usual. And I saw the bare spots on their chests, the fluffed feathers. They weren't reactive to me though. With the first one, I took eggs out from under her for 3 weeks and she never got upset with me. The 2nd one, I also took her eggs, but then decided to let her sit on some eggs, and she is now the proud mom of 4 chicks (4 out of 5 hatched) almost a week old.

I found some advice on the internet about broodiness at http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-2.html and that's the procedure I followed and it worked very well. I built her a separate enclosure when I noticed that she seemed broody, and I put 8 golf balls in a nest in that enclosure. She did settle on it and spent two nights on that nest. So then I put the eggs under her and she literally gathered them under her wings! It was beautiful to watch and reminded me of a text in the Bible ("as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, so I long to gather you to myself"). The whole process has been very amazing.

I put 5 eggs under her, as I didn't want to put too many under her in the event that she might lay more as she had still laid an egg when I noticed she was getting broody. But she didn't lay any more.