Broody hen?

[Kedwar72]

My 8mo old hen looks like this… I found her in the nesting box and took her out and saw that her belly is bare. She was not like this yesterday. The other girls are fine and her skin isn’t inflamed. Eating and drinking fine, behavior is normal. Is she broody? If so, what do I do? We have no rooster so these eggs won’t hatch.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is she currently exhibiting any other signs of broodiness? She may have plucked herself in anticipation of going broody, but might not be there yet.

 

[aart]

Here's my go-to signs of a broody:

Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does 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.

​

 

[Kedwar72]

Here's my go-to signs of a broody:

Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does 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.

​

Thank you!! Today, she has been in the nest all day and gets very puffy and mad if I try to move her. But she’s not even sitting on an egg right now, just in there. She slept on the roost all night though. Can I do something in these early stages to stop it from getting worse?

 

[Kedwar72]

Is she currently exhibiting any other signs of broodiness? She may have plucked herself in anticipation of going broody, but might not be there yet.

Not yet! But this is only day 2. Can I do something to stop her? She has been in the nest all day today so far but came out this morning to eat

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Not yet! But this is only day 2. Can I do something to stop her? She has been in the nest all day today so far but came out this morning to eat

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/