Still learning: Can hen's go half broody?? Details inside

[k2chickens]

Decided to watch my hen's do their thing today in the barn. After i spotted 3 different color eggs in a nest bucket i had made for the girls and check them for pecks, i put them down and leaned up against a wall....about 4 feet from the empty nest bucket i had just raided. 10 minuet's go by and my BR pullet Baily goes inside and sits on the 3 eggs. 5 more minuet's go by and she starts throwing shavings inside the nest bucket onto her back using her beak! that was a treat to watch. Then a few more minuets went by and she leaned to one side and took her beak and rolled one the eggs further more under her body.

The thing is she won't sit and STAY! I have one banty rooster keeping 1 banty hen and 9 standards in line, so i doubt there is a chance of thoes eggs being fertile Just wanted to share my experience today and see what you all thought. thanks for reading

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Sounds like normal laying behavior to me.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sounds normal for laying, but to answer your original question, yes I think they can go 1/2 broody................and I have the proof.

My light brahma started getting moody while laying. (started in the fall) She'd lay her egg and settle back down on it. So I'd periodically feel around under her and pull her egg out. Until, one day she scared the bejesus out of me when she puffed up like a blowfish and screeched at me. Then she started screeching at any chicken that would come in while she was laying. She'd sit on the nest for 3 hours or so, then pop off the nest like nothing ever happened. She's been doing this since fall, and she's still not broody. I even bought an incubator and hatched some eggs because I got tired of waiting for a broody.