Possibly broody hen, rooster behaving strangely around her

[MiniChickenMommy]

Hello all!
My hen has been sitting on her eggs for 4 days now, and I am pretty certain she is being broody. However she lives with my Roo, and my roo hasnt been wanting to be in the cage with her, at night he is sleeping at the other side of the coop and through the day he wont go in, and if I put him in he squeaks and tries his best to get out and has literally been sitting out in the rain, so I've been bringing him in the house just cos I feel sorry for him haha.. But is this normal behaviour for roos to not want to be around broody hens? Is it like how men dont want to be around PMS'ing women hahaha?
Thanks!

 

[Aapomp831]

It’s the broody hen that doesn’t want HIM around…. She’s in super protective mother hen mode, and quite frankly she’s being b*tchy and demanding that he sleep on the couch shell snap out of it in about 2 months when she weans the chicks from her (sometimes it’s a lot longer, but typical).

 

[Aapomp831]

…. Also, I wouldn’t bring him in. Leave him to roost in the other side of the coop. She’s not going to attack him - she just wants him to keep a respectful distance.

 

[MiniChickenMommy]

Oh I see hahaha Bless him, well they are in the house alot anyway, we joke they are house chickens and he can go out again if he wants, I leave the door open but he prefers to be in atm and I'd rather him be in the house and dry and warm rather than out in all this rain!

It's her first time sitting too, she only started laying in March/April. She seems quite content, I go and check on her a few times a day and make sure she has enough food and give her the occasional treat. Is there anything specific I need to be doing for her??

 

[Aapomp831]

Oh I see hahaha Bless him, well they are in the house alot anyway, we joke they are house chickens and he can go out again if he wants, I leave the door open but he prefers to be in atm and I'd rather him be in the house and dry and warm rather than out in all this rain!

It's her first time sitting too, she only started laying in March/April. She seems quite content, I go and check on her a few times a day and make sure she has enough food and give her the occasional treat. Is there anything specific I need to be doing for her??

As long as she’s leaving the nest once a day to eat / drink / poop then the only thing you really need to do is provide her with food and water like you have been - I would switch to chick starter now; it’s reinforced with extra protein and extra vitamins and minerals that will do her good while she’s brooding. Brooding can take a tole on their bodies, and by the time the chicks are hatched everyone is on the same food (rooster can eat the chick starter also).
If this is her first time, make sure you have a brooder set up and ready to go just in case she doesn’t carry through with being a mom. You’ll need a large box / rubber container, heat lamp / heat pad / pine shavings and feeders and waterers that are chick friendly.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This sounds like one @Shadrach would enjoy. He has a lot more experience with a very small hen to rooster ratio than I do. I haven't seen him around much lately but I'll tag him just in case he is available.

I always have a higher hen to rooster ratio so what you describe is not what I see. My rooster always has company. The broody hen does her thing and he mostly stays away.

Most of my broody hens let other hens in their nest with them to lay an egg, no problems. But some will not allow other hens in the nest with them. Each chicken, whether hen or rooster, is different with their own personality. The only thing consistent about them is that they are inconsistent.

I've read several posts in this forum where a rooster helps a hen find a good place to make a nest, maybe keep her company while she is laying an egg, help her incubate the eggs if she goes broody, and help her raise the chicks after they hatch. Most of these seem to have a low hen to rooster ratio. The only part of this I've seen is a rooster help a hen raise her chicks and that's usually when the hen is having problems.

Is there anything specific I need to be doing for her??

I don't know what your set-up looks like. It sounds like you don't have any other hens, which makes a difference. You don't have any that might be laying eggs in her nest. That eliminates some things most of us need to do.

Before a hen even starts laying eggs she builds up excess fat. That can be a lot of excess fat. I've butchered a lot of pullets and hens, cockerels and roosters. The difference in fat can be tremendous. That excess fat is put there for her to mostly live off of if she goes broody. That way she can spend most of her time in the nest instead of having to go search for food. As she broods that fat gets used up, just like it is supposed to. She is losing weight but she's supposed to. It doesn't hurt her. A lot of people freak out when they see that but there is no need to worry about it.

I leave my broody hens alone as much as I can. I figure the more I interfere the more opportunities I have to do harm. Broody hens have been doing this for thousands of years just on instinct. They know more about what is going in than I ever will.

I don't worry about whether it is a first time broody or if she has been broody before. I've had tremendous success with first time broodies. I've had problems with hens that had previously been broody and even successfully raised a clutch. And I've had a broody that messed up her first time and her second. She never got a third chance.

Lots of different things good or bad can happen any time you deal with living animals, no matter what you do. My main thought is to trust the broody and enjoy the experience. It usually works out great.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello all!
My hen has been sitting on her eggs for 4 days now, and I am pretty certain she is being broody. However she lives with my Roo, and my roo hasnt been wanting to be in the cage with her, at night he is sleeping at the other side of the coop and through the day he wont go in, and if I put him in he squeaks and tries his best to get out and has literally been sitting out in the rain, so I've been bringing him in the house just cos I feel sorry for him haha.. But is this normal behaviour for roos to not want to be around broody hens? Is it like how men dont want to be around PMS'ing women hahaha?
Thanks!

Hello MiniChickenMommy.

The first thing I would write is don’t worry, this is normal behaviour.
It gets forgotten that the whole point of a hen laying eggs is to produce young.

Next, despite the numerous breeding programs much of a chickens natural behaviour remains.

In a free range/feral chicken population a rooster will have escorted his hen to their laying site and while they are laying at that site, the rooster will collect his hen after she has laid her egg and escort her back to the group they belong to. The point here is while she is laying the rooster’s interest in his hen is preventing another rooster mating with her and fertilising her next egg, thus ensuring that any offspring are his and his hens.

Here are a coupleof pictures of a rooster guarding his hen while she establishes an egg laying site. One the site is established he won’t stay with her and only return to the locality to collect her once she has laid.

In a free range/feral keeping arrangement a hen will make a nest on the ground usually away from the rest of the group should she be part of one. Once committed to sitting on her eggs with the intention of hatching chicks the hens main strategy for not being discovered by predators is to remain as still as possible and only leave her nest to eat, drink and bath. Most hens are very careful when returning to the nest attempting to make sure that her nest location is not discovered by any predator who may be watching or in some cases, other hens who may try to lay their eggs in her clutch of eggs.

So, the less traffic going to and from the nest, the more secure the nest site is. You can read stories of very secretive hens making it difficult for their keepers to locate their nests here on BYC.

Here’s a gratuitous picture of a hen called Donk on her nest.

So, secrecy is the first point. The less attention and activity around her nest site, the less likely it is to be discovered. The hens rooster knows this and while roosters often keep an eye on their sitting hen partner they tend to do this at a distance from the nest. Roosters are very noticeable compared to a hen moving through the undergrowth. I’ve found many nests by watching roosters escorting hens to and from the nest while their hens are laying. Then there is that crowing business, a hen doesn’t really want a rooster advertising his presence at her nest site.

From my experience after the chicks hatch their mother spends the first few days away from her group with her chicks. The mother picks a time when she feels she and the chicks are ready to be introduced to the rest of the group. At some point the hen will introduce her chicks to her rooster; until that point the roosters will occasionally check on her but otherwise keep away.

Here are some pictures of hens introducing their chicks to their rooster.

Ruffles letting Cillin know that if he is likely to get attacked if he harms the chicks while he imprints them.

Blue Spot with a chick under each wing with her rooster sitting by her side waiting for her to introduce the chicks to him.

So, it would seem that your rooster and hen know exactly how they should be behaving but of course, their keeping circumstances are not free range, or feral.

At this point a picture of your hens nest site, coop and run would be helpful. One option would be to block the nest off overnight so the pair can’t see each other. The rooster may be more inclined to go to roost as normal in this case. If you have the room, a perch as far away from the nest may do. I’ve had many hens sit and hatch in their tribe coops and the other hens and roosters go into roost at night without much of a performance from the sitting hen and the other tribe members. Some are more particular than others and occasionally I’ve had roosters temporarily move to another coop while their hen sits and hatches.

A bit of an essay but hopefully you’ll understand better what’s going on and why and be able to make some adjustments to your keeping arrangements to facilitate their natural behaviour.