Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I think we have a broody hen. Our orpington was sleeping in the nest on 4 eggs when I went to lock up the coop. She never sleeps in the nest. I put her on the roost and brought the eggs into the garage and put them in a carton. I'm not sure what to do. Have the eggs started to incubate if she eg. was sitting on them for today? Now that they are in the garage are they dead? Should I bring her into the garage tomorrow and put her on the 4 eggs? Two eggs are hers and the other 2 eggs would be Rhode Island Red and Lavender Orpington mixed. Can orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds be mixed? We also have 2 orpington eggs in the fridge should I add them to make a total of 6? Would it be better (maybe there is a low chance that the eggs will hatch) to put her in a crate with a wire bottom and break her broody? Should we buy fertile eggs and put them under her? Thank you!

Also, the RIR egg shells are very thin so I'm thinking that they might break before the 21 days is up.

False alarm. The orpington is not in the nest today. Maybe she is thinking of going broody? Maybe she decided to sleep in the nest for some reason?

OK you will know when one goes broody. Sh will turn into a little demon!

I have a broody hen this year. Just to make sure that she was broody, I left her alone to see if she stayed in the laying box by the next morning. And she did. She did not get angry when I picked her up and moved her. Then I brought her egg with a few more. We think she may be the same hen as last year.
So we put her in her own spot in the barn, in a make-shift laying box (a cardboard covered plastic crate on its side) with a lot of fine shavings and chaff. That is in a small enclosure that is also laying on its side. This is so she can get out to "do her business" when needed.
She has been on her eggs since Monday. She has water on one side and a little food dish on the other.

I have 3 partridge chanteclers, and all of them go broody all the time. One of them likes to lay in the favourite box, and I often find her covered in yolk sitting on broken, dirty eggs. I had a bit of a fight with her, and set her up with some eggs in a spare cage. She had a meltdown and destroyed the setup and kicked the eggs all around and refused to sit on any. So I took them away and let her have a time out in there by herself for a few days. She’s been pretending not to be broody since, but it’s only a matter of time...the other that was broody at the same time I also set up with some eggs, and she settled on them and hasn’t moved since. She does eat and drink sometimes, but not when I’m looking...

wow seems like everyone has a different type of broody hen our orpington hen has not slept in the nest box since...just the one evening...why?