New behavior seen with my buff orpington

[Lahaina53]

Lately whenever I go out to greet my girls, my buff orpington would always puff her neck feathers and fluff her body feathers with a low cluck cluck sound. She does take the longest to lay when she is in the nest box but she always leave the nestbox and go on with the rest of her day. The fluffing of the feathers and clucking sound are new. What does this mean??

 

[LRH97]

Kind of sounds like broody hen vocalization to me. A distinctive deep "cluck cluck" sound is kind of a characteristic of a broody. That's just my guess though. She could be debating whether or not to set since she gets off the nest. I've gotten some good mommas out of BO's!

 

[Pork Pie]

Kind of sounds like broody hen vocalization to me. A distinctive deep "cluck cluck" sound is kind of a characteristic of a broody. That's just my guess though. She could be debating whether or not to set since she gets off the nest. I've gotten some good mommas out of BO's!

Agreed. Its likely she will begin to sit on the nest overnight soon enough whilst still laying a couple more eggs (thats my experience at least). If you have fertile eggs, then its game on (if you want to hatch more birds).

CT

 

[Lahaina53]

Today after she had laid her egg, and she takes a looong time to lay, I found a good amount of feathers in the nest box. So is this basically confirming she will be broody soon?? She used to let me pet and hold her and now whenever I get close she'd always puff her feathers out! She is still roosting on the bars at night like the other girls and eating and roaming around the yard. Do I let her become broody before breaking the behavior? Or is there a way to stop the broodiness now? Thank you for all your replies!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi, i think its fair to say that general consensus has it that the sooner you begin to break her broodiness, the less time it will take in the broody buster so my advice would be to begin now.

All the best
CT

 

[LRH97]

Hi, i think its fair to say that general consensus has it that the sooner you begin to break her broodiness, the less time it will take in the broody buster so my advice would be to begin now.

All the best
CT

Agree. The longer you let her set, the more comfortable and determined she becomes and the harder she'll be to break. Some birds are easier than others. Breaking could be as simple as repeatedly pulling her off the nest, to an extended time in a solitary location (broody buster). The move to the broody buster can be stressful, so that in itself may do the trick also. Best of luck!