What does the word broody mean!?!greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread |
What does the word broody mean in relationship to female ducks!?!
-- Stacey Erdmann (erdmanns@execpc.com), March 03, 2002
It means sitting on eggs to hatch them.
-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), March 03, 2002.
It means a bird who either IS setting on eggs to make them hatch, or a bird who WANTS to. It's a state of mind for female birds...they want to set on the eggs & incubate them rather than just lay 'em & leave 'em.
-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), March 03, 2002.
Yes. If she is broody, she is ready to set eggs. A hen, or duck hen, will sit longer and longer, eventually full time, except for getting off the nest once or twice a day to eat and drink and poop. Sometimes they will run around like crazy for twenty minutes or so (you may miss it if you're not out there), then she'll run back to the nest. She may hiss at you when you approach her "nest"(which may or may not actually have eggs). A hen will also have plucked her breast feathers. I never checked to see if the duck hen did this.
-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), March 03, 2002.