Whats wrong with my chicken - please help?!?!?

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kirstnz

kirstnz

Hatching
Oct 26, 2015
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Hi, I have 3 chickens that are 8 months old, they have been fully free range until a couple days ago when we clipped their wings and confined them to their good sized coop with garden (with summer coming we're a little bit over the poop all over the deck!). Anyway they've all been laying 1 egg a day since July. Until a couple days ago, 1 of them has been sitting in the laying box pretty much constantly all day yesterday and again today! I've been in to see her lots thinking she was ill but when i lift her out she'll happily eat and have a drink. She does seem uncomfortable though, her feathers are all puffed up and she seems irratable, she even let out a couple of squarks which was weird. She seems to be scratching & pruning a lot too! I'm wondering if she's egg bound or is it something else? Would she be affected by us clipping her wings? The other 2 are perfectly ok. I'm starting to worry now and I really want to help her, can anyone please help?????

Thank you in advance
Kirsten
First time chicken owner!
 
kirstnz said:
Hi, I have 3 chickens that are 8 months old, they have been fully free range until a couple days ago when we clipped their wings and confined them to their good sized coop with garden (with summer coming we're a little bit over the poop all over the deck!). Anyway they've all been laying 1 egg a day since July. Until a couple days ago, 1 of them has been sitting in the laying box pretty much constantly all day yesterday and again today! I've been in to see her lots thinking she was ill but when i lift her out she'll happily eat and have a drink. She does seem uncomfortable though, her feathers are all puffed up and she seems irratable, she even let out a couple of squarks which was weird. She seems to be scratching & pruning a lot too! I'm wondering if she's egg bound or is it something else? Would she be affected by us clipping her wings? The other 2 are perfectly ok. I'm starting to worry now and I really want to help her, can anyone please help?????

Thank you in advance
Kirsten
First time chicken owner!
Click to expand...
From your description it sounds like your hen has gone broody-wanting to hatch eggs and raise a family. If she is sitting on an empty nest put an egg in front of her and see what she does. If she pulls the egg under her she is not sick; she is broody. What kind of hen is she?
 
Your hen is Broody!

Broody hens will often plump their plumage feathers along with the whole body, they will stay in the box almost all the time of the day, on occasion she will leave the nest and quickly eat and drink. Then its in the nest. Hens do this to raise young, the warm help chicks grow and develop inside the egg. You said nothing of a Rooster. And if you don't have a Roo, no baby's. If you don't want chicks then I suggest you stop the broody, Its very contagious and your other hens may also become broody. Once you stop the broody, she will continue to lay eggs for you.

- Put the broody in another cage alone lifted so that air flows under her legs, She will brake free because she has no warmth under the legs, just air. She will eventually give up, it my take 2-3 days of this.

Make sure to stop your broody as soon as possible, or your other hens may become broody's.

I hope this makes sense!:)

Farm316
 
Last edited:
Thank you both. We have fake eggs in the laying boxes, and I watched her nudge one right back under her! Should I take the eggs out? As they've been laying a while will they remember where to lay? What about her seemingly signs of discomfort? Are you sure she's not in pain? I don't really have anywhere else I can put her, maybe I can just keep taking her out of the box? Is it possible that once we confined them to their coop with garden rather than having free range over our property that this triggered her to become broody? She is a Brown Shaver!
 
No, She is not at all in pain,

She is just being a natural hen.. She has it in her mind that those eggs must stay warm all the time! So, she may also start to pluck her chest feathers out for added bedding to the eggs. I would keep removing her from the box. And maybe give her all your wooden eggs and then when she goes out to eat, remove an egg. She might realize that their going bye bye. Keep removing the eggs and when their are no more.. Than keep an eye on her and see if she's still broody..
 

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