Broody Hens

It is spring and the hen house is getting broody.  You can see the the picture above two hens in one nesting box.  I have 10 nesting boxes and all 40 girls use only three of them.  The phrase "Bird Brain" came from somewhere, right?

Broody is defined as  : being in a state of readiness to brood eggs that is characterized by cessation of laying and by marked changes in behavior and physiology <a broody hen>

So what the above definition doesn't says is that the broody behavior starts as the hen begins to pluck out her own chest feathers for several days.

  The hen will line her nest with these feathers (see picture above) and it will be easier for her to keep her eggs the correct temperature for incubation, if she is "skin" to egg.  The picture below shows the "naked" chest of a broody hen.  The first time I saw this I thought I had some type of desease, but the hen knew what she was doing.