Unexpected broody

[scyllarus]

One of our hens, a dilute named Flan, is apparently broody. I'm not sure for how long - we were away from home due to my work - but we've been back a few days and I noticed she's been hiding in a box. Thinking back, I haven't seen her lately on camera, either, so this might be a week or so of brooding behavior. I caught her on camera this morning getting up and eating/drinking, then going back to her nest area once she had refreshed herself. Several of the other hens were very interested in her spot while she was gone, but no one managed to get into it.

I have no idea whatsoever if she has any eggs in there. The inside of the box isn't visible on camera, and it's very far from the cage doors. It does seem that most of the eggs are still being laid haphazardly around the cage, though.

I'm kind of excited, to be honest. Our setup isn't all that natural, so I didn't expect anyone to get broody in it - especially not for so long. It might be due to us adding pine straw as enrichment? The quail seem to adore it, and it just so happens that we heaped it around that box Flan is sitting in.

I think we'll let her brood and see what happens.

 

[sourland]

Good luck for a successful incubation/hatch.

 

[scyllarus]

We ended up removing 5 eggs from under Flan, who didn't budge during the whole procedure. The other quail have been laying their eggs in her nest and she's not able to cover them all. I have no idea if she'll be able to successfully hatch and raise chicks, but it would be worth seeing if her daughters are as easily broody as she is. I wouldn't call their cage "natural", which is what most of our expert keepers say is necessary for broodiness, and no one else seems to want to brood, so I'm thinking Flan is just...inherently broody.

No idea if the eggs will even hatch tbh. Jason isn't doing an amazing job at being a roo, plus he's the single roo for eight hens, plus it's winter. Poor Flan might be warming eggs that aren't even fertile.

 

[scyllarus]

We ended up taking all of the eggs and putting them in the incubator since it was becoming clear to me that Flan was losing interest. It looks like everyone is still using the "nest" as a place to lay eggs, though, and we'll see if we have any more broodies.