New layer...going broody?

[2102Simm]

Happily 6 of my 9 young pullets are now laying eggs . Now one of my girls a Buff Orpington named Buttercup is staying long periods of time in the nesting box. All the others get in do their egg making magic and exit singing, not Buttercup. I go to collect eggs and she fluffs up her feathers and chicken growls at me then actively pecks my hand when I attempt to retrieve her egg but she wont leave the nest. Is she just young and taking her time or could I possibly have my hopes up for a broody mama?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

She's lovely! Is she in the box all day and night and only getting up a few times to eat, drink, and potty? A broody hen will also look a lot like a pancake on the nest compared to a hen that is just taking her time laying an egg. Once a hen is ready to commit and sit she will stop laying eggs and usually the comb will lose it's bright red coloration after a few days of the switch in hormones.

 

[aart]

How old is she in months, and how long has she been laying?

Here are my go-to signs for calling 'broody':
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does 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?
Are there feathers in the nest, and missing from her breast/belly?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

 

[2102Simm]

How old is she in months, and how long has she been laying?

Here are my go-to signs for calling 'broody':
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does 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?
Are there feathers in the nest, and missing from her breast/belly?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. After observing her more over the past few days she's not really doing any of the signs of a broody hen. I think it was just my lack of experience in chicken keeping and hopeful thinking that lead me to believe she was going broody

 

[sean_wonder]

Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

This phrase made me chuckle. It's so accurate

 

[2102Simm]

This phrase made me chuckle. It's so accurate

I laughed at it too, but no she's my noisiest hen and "talks" the most of my girls especially when it comes to doing her egg magic

 

[chickens really]

Lots of new layers love to spend time in the nest boxes with the egg. Hopefully her behaviour will lead one day to her commitment to hatching.

 

[aart]

This phrase made me chuckle. It's so accurate

I can hear that low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound from 20 feet away,
long before they start sitting the nest. Comes from having a serial broody one summer, broke her 7 times.