Possibly broody?

[Flockmama87]

so I have a hen, she steals my broody hens nest every day. When I or another chicken goes anywhere near her she puffs and makes what I can Only describe as demon sounds, I figured she’s trying out the broody scene, so I saved up some eggs for her, made her a nice little area, put the eggs in there for her, and moved her...thankfully I kept all my fingers! She adjusted and fluffed, maneuvered and covered with hay. She sat there for hours before (I can only assume) she got bored and wandered off to join the rest of her chicken friends.....she acts broody but doesn’t want to commit....could she just be a mean layer or what is going on here?

 

[Chickassan]

How old is she?

 

[Flockmama87]

26 weeks, they’ve been laying about a month now.

 

[Chickassan]

Oh ok,they play broody when they're young. I just had one do the exact same.

 

[Flockmama87]

I have one that took the playing too far lol she’s on day 10 so I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a trend lol which would be fine with me lol how long did yours take to decide what she wanted to do?

 

[AlleysChicks]

I had a 24 week old pullet go broody and she hatched 5 chicks a week ago. I have another that is 2 weeks older and she’s been broody for 2 weeks. I’m tempted to get her chicks this weekend.

 

[Flockmama87]

This is my first go round with a broody, this girl though is downright mean when she’s on a nest, she has all the broody signs but gets up after 4 hours or so, I just wish she’d make up her mind so I know if I should give her some eggs or just let her be a grump on some dud eggs, I’d just hate for her to get a few days in and decide it’s not for her.

 

[AlleysChicks]

That’s what I worried about with my red bird. Plus it’s getting colder out.

 

[Flockmama87]

Same here, maybe she’s just a grump, I’ve had chickens for years but never a broody, so I’m learning as I go with this bunch. The weather here is in the 50’s and 60’s during the day and 30’s and 40’s at night, so one night off the nest and everyone would quit. Chickens are so unpredictable lol

 

[AlleysChicks]

It got down to 30 last night and the warmest it’s been today is 52. I had swore off chicks until spring then I got 2 broodies. I’ve never had one before, let alone 2. To me it’s stressful.