# what does BROODYmean??



## preachergirl09 (Aug 19, 2013)

I am new to raising chickens and i see people post about there chickens being broody.....just wondering what that means?? Lol Thanks


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## LittleWings (Jul 15, 2013)

That means they are sitting on their eggs to hatch them.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

> _v._ *brood·ed*, *brood·ing*, *broods*
> _v.__tr._*1. * To sit on or hatch (eggs).
> *2. * To protect (young) by or as if by covering with the wings.
> 
> ...


You know a hen has went broody when she sits in the nest longer than just for laying an egg, is reluctant to get off the nest, fluffs her feathers up and will often cry out or peck you if you try to remove her. After you evict her, she will prowl around with her feathers fluffed out and may make a low growling sound. She will wait until you are gone and hop right back on that nest, whether there are eggs in it our not. The next day she will sit on whatever eggs that another hen lays and she can commandeer. By the time a hen has gone broody, she has already laid all the eggs she had planned for her nest and is sitting...once she is sitting, she is no longer laying eggs.


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## preachergirl09 (Aug 19, 2013)

Wow...thanks alot....


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

It's important to note that not all hens go broody, also that some continuously are broody or go broody often. It can be a breed thing as well. Also, depending on your situation, and what you want from your flock, having a broody hen can be considered a great thing, or an awful thing. I hope for mostly productive egg layers, but a few broody hens in the bunch would be a blessing. Now, if all my hens went broody I think that would be a disaster to me.


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## preachergirl09 (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks so much!! I had hens for yrs and sold them and started over this yr with new chicks. My old hens never were broody so i never knew what it was n those hens layed for yrs. I had a game hen who was free range i guess youd call it, she was a yard chicken, she came up missing for 2 or 3 weeks and i thought a pred had got her. Then one day i saw her and she had 12 lil bitties.lol I am learning so much on this site i love it SO much!!!


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