What breed is this? And why do they do this? LOL

[momto6Ls]

ok. I'm a newbie, and I'm having trouble with technology. LOL I hope this post comes out alright. I've been lurking for probably years. We had all red sex links until recently. We raised them as chicks. They were getting old, and went in the freezer. We bought a group of 14 hens - a mix of breeds 2-3 years old, to have eggs immediately.

These girls (we have 4 of this breed) are smaller than the rest, lay small white eggs and do funny things! One of them, to my delight, decided to be broody. She has been constant! But two of the others are a little less conscientious, although they seem to be broody as well. They keep leaving their nests and climbing in with the first one! Sometimes three at once. They are so much alike, we can't tell them apart. My husband has tried to move the good mama, but we are not sure we got the right one. LOL He tried moving all three to the new closed in area but they about killed each other, and nobody paid attention to the eggs.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Maybe old English Game??

http://www.backyardpoultry.com/wiki/index.php/Chicken_Breeds_Chart

 

[momto6Ls]

Hmmm. Well everything seems to fit except the eggs...the eggs are definitely white, not tinted. Maybe it's a cross?

 

[cstephens1987]

American game

 

[Gray Farms]

Agreed. American Games

 

[momto6Ls]

Awesome. Any thoughts on the strange brooding behavior? I read that American Games are quite broody. But I don't know why they all want to be in the same space...

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

You have some American Gamefowl hens. They are a seasonal laying breed and lay a clutch of eggs and then go broody.

 

[momto6Ls]

Haha. I get that. Going broody isn't strange behavior. I'm excited about that part! My question must not be very clear. There seem to be 2-3 hems in the same nesting box most of the time. They are not pushing each other out, just snuggling in! And it's 90+ degrees here every day! My hubby couldn't even figure out who the clutch "belonged" to, when he tried to move them down off the wall. (Our laying boxes hang on the wall, and we don't want chicks falling! )

I've read a lot of forum posts about broody hens, but I haven't come across anything like this.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Haha. I get that. Going broody isn't strange behavior. I'm excited about that part! My question must not be very clear. There seem to be 2-3 hems in the same nesting box most of the time. They are not pushing each other out, just snuggling in! And it's 90+ degrees here every day! My hubby couldn't even figure out who the clutch "belonged" to, when he tried to move them down off the wall. (Our laying boxes hang on the wall, and we don't want chicks falling! )

I've read a lot of forum posts about broody hens, but I haven't come across anything like this.

They will do that when laying their eggs because they feel that the spot picked is a safe location.