Silly things Broody Hens Do

[Viergacht]

So Rhoda, my 9 month old Barred Rock, has gone broody for the first time. As soon as I make her get off the nest, she runs over to the big water bowl, has a quick drink, then hops in and does a little splashy dance! I've never seen her or any of the others do this. Sometimes she'll get in and out and do this a couple of times.
She's also lost her taste for red grapes, when formerly she would come running and bowl over the other hens to get them.

Usually only my Wyandotte, Goldie, gets broody. Last time she suddenly decided she had to fly everywhere - she'd come blasting out of the coop and land on a big fallen branch in the yard, then perch there rubbing her beak on it and muttering to herself. We used to joke she was sharpening her beak to stab me because I kept booting her off the nest!



What sort of weird stuff have your broody hens done?

 

[50-45-1]

Most of my broodys act psychotic.
Picture a nice serene barn yard...then all the sudden, here she comes! off the nest , barreling out the coop door like a preditor is on her heals, clucking loud like a time bomb about to go off, puffed way up so she looks three times her ususl size she Chases everyone away from the dust hole, ( no problem, every body stays away from this one, even the rooster looks scared), then scratch and dust so furourisously it looks like a roto tiller at work, squalk and scream her way back to the nest box and abruptly....
all returns to peace and quiet...

 

[Sally PB]

Oh my, what might I be getting into next spring if one of my girls goes broody?!? Kind of looking forward to it, actually.

 

[Viergacht]

Most of my broodys act psychotic.
Picture a nice serene barn yard...then all the sudden, here she comes! off the nest , barreling out the coop door like a preditor is on her heals, clucking loud like a time bomb about to go off, puffed way up so she looks three times her ususl size she Chases everyone away from the dust hole, ( no problem, every body stays away from this one, even the rooster looks scared), then scratch and dust so furourisously it looks like a roto tiller at work, squalk and scream her way back to the nest box and abruptly....
all returns to peace and quiet...

Oh yeah, Rhoda is also single-handedly digging her way to China in the bed where we tried to grow raspberries this year. I guess the soil is nice and aerated there? LOL Poor little loony. I'm probably gonna bring her inside tomorrow and put her in chicken jail until she gets over it.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

The broody screams! Oh my! Screams over EV-ER-Y-THING! Everybody else is standing still looking around like, "I didn't even look at her, I promise!". My silkie didn't scream quite this much when she's broody, but my OEGB pullet (she's 5.5 months old) sure does. She is too flipping adorable, even in spite of her screams. Thankfully her boodiness only lasted about 7 days

 

[Callender Girl]

I'm a bit disappointed. All my broodies do is sit quietly on their nests and attempt to amputate my hand when I reach into the coop. You all have much more entertaining girls.

 

[Quaicken108]

So Rhoda, my 9 month old Barred Rock, has gone broody for the first time. As soon as I make her get off the nest, she runs over to the big water bowl, has a quick drink, then hops in and does a little splashy dance! I've never seen her or any of the others do this. Sometimes she'll get in and out and do this a couple of times.
She's also lost her taste for red grapes, when formerly she would come running and bowl over the other hens to get them.

Usually only my Wyandotte, Goldie, gets broody. Last time she suddenly decided she had to fly everywhere - she'd come blasting out of the coop and land on a big fallen branch in the yard, then perch there rubbing her beak on it and muttering to herself. We used to joke she was sharpening her beak to stab me because I kept booting her off the nest!

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What sort of weird stuff have your broody hens done?

Did you say Wyandotte? (Rhetorical)
In January of 2019 I got four Wyandotte’s (Laya, Lacey, Ivery and Peppa) but sadly over the next 3 months 3 of them died. They were all about 6-7 months when they died and I do believe it was something that the breeder did because his conditions were very poor for some of his chickens. Of course I do not blame him but almost instantly after we got them one fell sick. She was sick for a long time before she passed. Peppa was the last one left and she was sad about her sisters but it wasn’t easy because we hadn’t yet fully integrated her into the flock because we were busy with caring for the others and had other life things going on. She was the lowest in the pecking order and got hurt quite a bit. One time I came home and she was badly injured. This was a shock because she was starting to make friends with two other chickens. I separated her and treated her injuries. Soon she was healed and after everything she was quite close to me. We got two light sussexes to see if she’d try making friends with them or I even sort of wanted her to be mean to them (not hurt them) but show that she wasn’t ‘weak’ in a sense. I also just wanted light Sussex’s so... yay! Eventually she sort of made friends with a flock member named Uzzi she was a crossbreed of black australorp and Rhode Island Red. Sadly she passed in January of 2020 (which was around the time when they became somewhat friends). It was due to an egg malfunction that was sudden couldn’t really of been foreseen. Everyone was devastated and she was eight days from her 3rd hatchday so in my opinion quite young. Peppa struggled after that and only had me. I’m busy and can’t be around her 24/7, though I could. In late January after Uzzi had passed I went on a camp. I was away for about a week and Peppa was so lonely that she decided that it was time to finally get real friends. She went broody! I gave her two barnevelder chicks in mid February and now they’re all happy. Peppa is so tame as well that she’s practically handraised even though I got her as a pullet! Peppa will have her second hatchday on the 26th of September and I’m so exited! She is a wonderful Wyandotte.
P.S. when Peppa was broody she was also bullied and badly plucked that she barley even looked like my little SLW but now she’s super pretty.
I love all your stories and can’t wait to here more!

 

[TARDIS37379]

I have a NJG that has been broody for 6 months but she forgets which nest box and goes to a different one. She get moved to a small space and one nest box as soon as the new chicks arrive and I clear a space. She’ll hatch me some NJG chicks.

 

[Viergacht]

Did you say Wyandotte? (Rhetorical)

Yep, Goldie is my Gold Laced who's the nutjob, and I also have a Blue Laced, Lacey (yes, I'm not very creative with chicken names LOL). Goldie is #2 hen and Lacey is down near the bottom, even though she's a hulking giant - but she's young yet, she might figure out how big she is at some point. Right now she and my Australorp are mostly concerned with picking on each other with the Australorp - who's half her size - usually winning.

Goldie just came out of a brood, so I've been on chicken-bothering duty for a while now. It's a shame the kids are back in school - in the summer I can borrow a niece or nephew and tell them it's time to go outside and annoy the birds for me. I got to witness a showdown between the 5 year old and Goldie recently. He really wanted to help collect eggs, which she was of course guarding like a tiny, feathered dragon on her hoard. It took him a couple of tries to work up his nerve to reach in there, then he came running out as fast as he could with an armload of eggs while she blasted out the other door!

 

[dbtcowgirl]

My old Dark Brahma doesn't really lay anymore, but loves to go broody so if I have extra eggs she gets them. Her funniest behavior is when she leaves the nest to eat and drink she clucks and screams the whole time. Then settles back in and is silent. I don't know the purpose of her warning siren, but we always know when the nest is unattended.