Newbie with broody hen question

[Puravidagal]

Hi everyone. We live in Costa Rica where nearly everyone has free-range chickens. We inherited one when a neighbor moved and couldn't gather this one up. We believe she's less than a year old and we've had her about 4 months. No idea what her breed is, but she's similar to a Rhode Island Red and hence we call her Henna. We'd just been feeding her and only recently discovered she was laying in our garage which is an open-air enclosure, so she has free access and weather protection. We had gotten one egg a day and then a month ago, she sat on the nest all day and night and after researching I learned it was a broody behavior. So the next day I was all set to physically remove her and try to break her of the habit, but she beat me to it and left on her own accord and then didn't lay in the same spot for about a week. She has just begun laying there again, but today she's been on the nest all day and she's roosting there as well. She also began making unusual sounds yesterday and today. Could all this be connected? I can't find any descriptions of these sounds online. I have read about the broody hens and know what to do, but I wonder is this cyclical behavior since she'd done it recently and now again? There is not a rooster nearby that I know of, so I don't think her egg would be fertile. I didn't look if she layed one today, but tomorrow I will lift her out of the site so she can eat. I would appreciate any insights or suggestions. Thanks so much in advance.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. What you are describing sounds like broody behavior.

 

[GirlsMommy18]

Yep. Sounds broody.

 

[Puravidagal]

Thank you both. Yes, that's what I thought after reading the forums. So is this a cyclical thing? Do they do it often? I wasn't quite sure about that from the reading. LOL, never did I think that being born and raised in Metropolitan New York that I would be living in Costa Rica raising a rescue chicken who's broody! She is adorable and definitely part of the family as well as quite entertaining. Now if we can just break her of this, we'll be happy.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Hiya
Nice to meet you!

 

[Puravidagal]

Hiya
Nice to meet you!

Thank you, MissChick@Dee. Cute name!

 

[GirlsMommy18]

That depends on your hen. I have one that goes broody nearly every month, several that have never gone broody, and 3 that have gone broody once in their 1st year of life.

She could go broody in a few weeks again, or she could go broody in 9 months. No way to tell.

 

[Puravidagal]

That depends on your hen. I have one that goes broody nearly every month, several that have never gone broody, and 3 that have gone broody once in their 1st year of life.

She could go broody in a few weeks again, or she could go broody in 9 months. No way to tell.

Guess we've got to keep on our toes then, but that's what makes keeping them so much fun. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Puravidagal]

I have an additional question now that I've removed her from her nest. She went willingly with no attempt to bite, although she did complain, lol. My question, since she is free range, would she return to the same nesting site after she's broken or would she look for another? When she did this the last time, it was a few days before she layed, but she did so in her usual spot. Just wondered if this is a habit or will a broody hen get discouraged and find another spot. That's a problem for us because we have so much vegetation around us. Just curious about what to look for.

 

[GirlsMommy18]

I have an additional question now that I've removed her from her nest. She went willingly with no attempt to bite, although she did complain, lol. My question, since she is free range, would she return to the same nesting site after she's broken or would she look for another? When she did this the last time, it was a few days before she layed, but she did so in her usual spot. Just wondered if this is a habit or will a broody hen get discouraged and find another spot. That's a problem for us because we have so much vegetation around us. Just curious about what to look for.

It's very possible she'll change nests. It can take a week or two before she'll lay if she was fully broody. If she returned to the same spot last time, you may get lucky though.

I've had to retrain a few hens to start laying where I wanted them to after they decided to make hidden nests. I have one hen who absolute despises any nest I've provided, no matter how soft, dark, and secluded I've made it (though she's laying in the bins right now, who knows for how long though....) Instead she had laid under my Kayak, in knarled tree roots, and her favorite- my nasty fire pit.

You might want to provide a nice nest bin for her. You can make a lot of things that are laying around into nests. Bucket, milk crate, storage totes are good, etc. But if you don't have her contained even a little, it may not work. Does she have shelter at night, or is she a fully roaming chicken?