[benkt]

I had thought that my free-range chickens had gone off the lay a bit recently, but today I found a clutch of eggs in an old falling down shed. There were about 16, almost all from one of our LS girls (she's the only one who lays green eggs so its easy to tell who it was)!

They've been coming home to roost properly so she's not been sitting overnight. Is she broody and is it worth knocking together a broody coop for her to have a go at sitting? I've always hatched from an incubator in the past so this is a bit new to me! 

[Fleecewife]

I would think that if you moved the clutch now she would not sit on it.  They often build up a very large clutch before they start to sit, although it might be best to reduce it to 12 so she can cover them all more easily.  It could be that it's an old clutch which has already been abandoned - see if she adds another egg each day.  Our free range hens do this every year, most annoyingly.  Some eventually appear out of the undergrowth with anything from one to 12 chicks.  Last year a Scots Grey did this and we were unable to get her into a house before nightfall (she had gone completely wild) - by the morning the whole lot had gone, dinner for the fox.  But we have nearly always found it impossible to move the clutch and keep the hen sitting.  When it has been successful is when we have waited at least a week for her to get really settled into brooding, moved the whole nest no matter how makeshift or manky then shut her in a very small broody coop.  Once hatched, we usually end up letting them raise the chicks in the polytunnel, being the only place which is safe from the sparrow hawk, corvids, stoats and so on.  Disastrous for the veggies of course    Our New Years resolutiuon each year is to build a proper pen for raising chicks.

[benkt]

I moved that clutch as I've just put on a batch in the incubator and didn't realy want any more, but to no avail! I found another clutch that she's started today with just a couple of eggs in it. I think I'm going to have to go and build a broody coop next week and see what happens!

[NorthEssexsmallholding]

I'm guessing that theres no sure way of knowing when a hen is going to go broody?  I'm thinking of getting a Silkie hen so I can get her to sit on some eggs I want to hatch out.

[manian]

i doubt she is broody if shes  not sitting overnight......... when ours go broody its hard to get them off!!!
one way to tell is if her breast bone if hot..... we were told this and it was right our broody 's breast was boiling (and few feathers) the lazy one not hot breasted)
HTH
Mx

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Hi,

    one way to tell if they are thinking of going broody is if they wander about eyeing up places to lay rather than using the nest box. I usually notice this with mine at the weekend when I'm mucking out or gardening. Instead of just getting on with it in the nest box my broody wanders about muttering to herself and looking around the different coops or contemplating a dark corner behind the hay bales in the feed room.

Another sign is them making a bee line for the cockerel ( if you have one) and following him about or asuming the mating position as soon as they have laid.

Once they are hot at the breast and loosing feathers then they have already become broody and this would be accompanied by other behaviour such as flattening themselves out in the nest box and refusing to budge. objecting violently if you lift them out. Remaing in the same hatching position if you place them on the floor and returning to the box imediatly.

I find that having a nice broody coop and run that the hen feels safe in and gets used to hatching in avoids them wandering off to lay eggs under the hedge. I kit out my broody box with straw and put plastic eggs in when I know that mine are thinking of going broody. I leave the run and pop hole open so they can wander in and set up a clutch. Then I remove the fresh eggs but leave the fake ones so the clutch appears undisturbed. Once the hen sits for a whole day on the fake eggs I swap them for the real thing and set her up with food water and grit before closing the pop hole door to give her some peace. I check on her regularly and the broody box has light and ventilation. After a day or so of her getting them up to temp I open the pop hole through the day and shut it at night.
When the chicks are born I keep the pop hole shut for a day or so depending on the time of year and then open it so that she can bring the chicks out. I treat my broody to a washing up bowl full of eath and sand so that she can have a well earned dust bath at the end of her 3 weeks of confinement.

Buffy

[OhLaLa]

If a hen is broody she will sit day and night - and she will choose the nest.

If you move the eggs to another spot she won't sit on them, and if they have been getting cold overnight they won't hatch anyhow.