Non-Broody Hen Sitting in Nest with Broody Hen all Day

[lothomson]

Hey everyone!

Long time, no see. In the past week or so, one of my hens has been broody (which is very typical of her), but weirdly enough, my other hen Joy who has never exhibited broody behavior has joined Cream in her nesting box. They share the nest day in and day out, and I can tell that Joy is not broody. What does this mean? I removed them both from the nesting box today, as I am concerned they will both grow weak because the eggs are not fertile.

Has anyone seen this kind of behavior before? I have seen many threads on two BROODY hens sharing a nesting box, but no articles on a non-broody and a broody hen continuously nesting together.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Copy Cat Broody OR Best of Friends

 

[mixedbreeds]

Crazy I have two hens doing the exact same thing, to strange. I keep taking the eggs away as I don’t want any chicks there and they go eat and get a drink. Then the broody goes right back to the nest the other one scratches around a little longer and then goes and joins the broody again.

 

[lothomson]

Crazy I have two hens doing the exact same thing, to strange. I keep taking the eggs away as I don’t want any chicks there and they go eat and get a drink. Then the broody goes right back to the nest the other one scratches around a little longer and then goes and joins the broody again.

So, I ended up removing the hens AND eggs from the nesting box and FINALLY the two of them have returned to sleeping on the normal roost instead of in the boxes. Hopefully they continue doing this, but I think their behavior has to do with how close they are.

 

[Seaecho]

My experience is the exact same as mixedbreeds. One is broody, the other is not, yet she spends almost as much time in there are the broody does.