Weird Attitude

[Peppercorngal]

You never know about chickens and broody behavior. I have a broody hen right now. She went broody and refused to leave the nest after laying only one egg! I gave her two more and hope we get at least two chicks. My other broody hen sat on six eggs, so you never know! My broody last summer with six eggs was an Easter Egger, right now my girl Maggie, a Buff Orpington, is holed up trying for a family! She has only left the nest one time too, (it's been 15 days!!), and the EE left every other day. All this to say it all depends on the hen what the amount of eggs may be and behaviors while broody! Good luck with your Orpington hen!

 

[aart]

If she's making short little clucks almost like she's "ticking" then she is entertaining thoughts of hatching some babies.

I love the 'ticking' analogy!
I can now ID this sound way before they start to set.

@MotherHen75 she may be 'pre-broody'.
Whether she goes full on broody or not depends on hormones more than the quantity of a 'clutch'. A truly broody bird will set tight on nothing.

These are the signs I go by:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, doesn't she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

 

[Chickassan]

It is a really accurate analogy, it sounds like a bomb factory here at the moment.
Three out of four of the french hens are about to blow.

I love the 'ticking' analogy!
I can now ID this sound way before they start to set.

@MotherHen75 she may be 'pre-broody'.
Whether she goes full on broody or not depends on hormones more than the quantity of a 'clutch'. A truly broody bird will set tight on nothing.

These are the signs I go by:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, doesn't she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

 

[rebrascora]

I love the 'ticking' analogy!

My mother always called broody hens "clockers", presumably because they ticked like a clock. The way I look at it, they are counting down the seconds till they need to get back to their nest of eggs.

 

[aart]

It is a really accurate analogy, it sounds like a bomb factory here at the moment.
Three out of four of the french hens are about to blow.

I've got one too....bucbucbucbucbucbuc....been playin' at it off and on for a few weeks.
Wish she'd quit, really don't want to have to break out the breaker crate. SMH.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I've had walking broodies. They never stay setting, and walk around looking for trouble it seems. I break them the same as setting ones if I can catch them.