OK I have to ask a dumb question...

[butterflygrooves]

What the heck does broody mean?

 

[PippyChicken]

Broody means when chickens lay on eggs until they hatch

 

[chickee]

When a hen goes broody, she has a strong desire to sit on the nest and hatch eggs. She won't get out of the nest, puffs up and growls if you try to move her or take eggs out from under her. I have a broody who has been sitting on the nest for weeks now with no eggs. She wants to hatch babies so bad, but I don't have room for more chicks!

 

[butterflygrooves]

Is it a bad thing? I've seen a couple threads where people seem to want to discourage it.

 

[butterflygrooves]

They will sit even if the eggs aren't fertilized?

 

[Kittymomma]

It's when a hen decides she wants to sit on a clutch of eggs and/or raise chicks. A hen doesn't really need eggs in a nest to go broody though, I've had several start sitting on nothing but shavings. She'll stay in the nest box (or whatever spot she's chosen) all night and most of the day. Most hens will come off the nest once a day or so to eat/drink and leave the biggest nastiest smelling poo you've ever seen from a chicken. They also tend to be all puffed up and have lots of 'tude. Some broody hens are pretty placid (My BA is a sweetie) but others might growl at you and give you the stink eye or even peck and bite if you try to handle them or remove eggs.

 

[PippyChicken]

It's not really a bad thing if you want chicks. They will sit on unfertalized eggs

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
They don't care, they'll sit on anything or even nothing at all.

 

[chickee]

Quote:
It is a good thing if you need a hen to hatch eggs for you

and a bad thing if you don't because they stop laying eggs and just take up nesting box space!

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
It's not really a bad thing, but they don't take very good care of themselves when they're broody and they don't lay any eggs either. If I'm not going to let a broody set on any eggs or put day old chicks under her I usually break them by putting them in a wire bottom rabbit hutch with food/water but no nesting material for a few days. That way they don't get all run down for nothing and I don't lose out on the egg production.