The day my broody hen finally gave up

My Buff Orpington, Bertha, had been sitting on a clutch of fake eggs for a solid 28 days, refusing to budge. I was about to try the broody breaker cage trick, but then a huge thunderstorm rolled through on Tuesday. The noise and rain must have spooked her, because when I checked after it passed, she was off the nest and back with the flock, eating and drinking like nothing happened. Has anyone else had weather break a broody spell?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mila3mo ago

Sounds like a pretty low stakes chicken drama.

holly633mo ago

Funny how a big shake-up can reset the whole system. You see it with people too, stuck in a pointless routine until some outside event forces a change. Like a power outage making you actually talk to your family, or a canceled flight leading you to explore a random town. Bertha just needed a good scare to remember there's a whole world of food out there.

dakota4792mo agoMost Upvoted

@holly63 Bertha's thunderstorm wake-up call reminds me of something I read about chickens needing novel stimuli to break out of their loops.