Very strange broody hen

[EddieH]

We have a BO hen that is just weird. She went broody so we set 12 eggs under her. She broke two and pooped on the rest. We candled them anyway and put the 4 that looked like they had growth in them under her. 2 hatched and 1 of those 2 died. Then we took the rest of the eggs away and put some babies from our incubator that had hatched under her, while she was awake, in broad daylight. She took them no problem. I thought you could only make changes at night while they were sleeping. She raised them for 6 weeks and then left them.

A month and a half later she went broody again. We borrowed some eggs from our neighbor for her to hatch. The wife (Kelly's chickens) took her out of the broody box every morning and none of the eggs got pooped on this time around. She hatched 6 babies, the rest of the eggs were infertile. The weird thing is, not only did she go broody back to back, it has now been 8 weeks and she still won't leave the babies. We attempted to separate her and she was totally lost and acting upset. Put her and the babies back together and she is fine. Will she ever leave them? Is back to back broodiness normal?

We like broody hens, so broodiness is not a problem. It means more eggs and more meat. She just seems very different from any other broody we've had so far.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well, the first time she was inexperienced.. So she prolly cracked them sitting when she left and came back, then once pooped because she didnt want to leave. Some hens take from 6-12 weeks to leave their chicks, so don't worry