chicken behaviors and egglaying

Hi! A friend had this problem with a chicken: the chicken isn’t broody - she’s not sitting on the eggs. She’s more like, “If I can’t keep my eggs, you’re not getting them!” She comes running to the nest box anytime she sees us walking up to the coop (so if she’s outside, she comes racing in)...

I have a chicken who keeps pacing in her run to her coop. when she is in her coop she is scratching all of the bedding out of her nesting box like she is mad that I put it there. But it’s to the point where she is scraping the bottom with her nails and just won’t stop. What in the heck is...

I’ve seen a variety of nest box styles while perusing chicken coop ideas for my future coop build. I’ve seen several where the nest boxes are inside the coop (either externally or internally), and some where the nest boxes are outside the coop (appears to be for more free ranging plans)...

Hey just wanted some opinions. I have a Cochin hen that is broody and I would like to hatch my own eggs this year, but I’m worried she if her being young might not make her a great candidate for a mom. She was hatched in October and she is still kinda small, not full grown yet. Her eggs are...

Hello everyone! I went out this morning to find a very strange egg in one of my nesting boxes. I thought it was a nut at first then I thought it must be an egg from another bird since there was no way one of my chickens laid this, but my coop is sealed off from wild birds. I had to assume that...

Hi all, I have a young buff orp cockerel and am thinking about keeping him since we don’t have any other roosters. I know that buff orps are usually described as very sweet chickens and was wondering if that held true for the roosters? I know that every rooster is different, but just wanted to...

Our hen is consistently laying eggs every other day, or sooner. I've often find her sitting down low in her favorite spots, thrusting her pelvis up and down in rhythm. Is she.. A) preparing to lay? B) Moving the egg around in side to better (more evenly) create the shell? C) Just being a...

Hi! I have a broody hen sitting on some hatching eggs out in my barn right now and we have some warm weather coming up, in the upper 80’s, and I’m worried about her getting too hot. Will she? Is there anything I could do to keep her cool like putting a fan on her, or would that stress her out...

I’ve put a couple ceramic eggs in my nest boxes to encourage laying. My oldest chickens are around 18 weeks, and a couple of the girls are showing signs of readiness. I move the eggs everyday to different nest boxes, sometimes together and sometimes separate. I’ve been doing this for about a...

I have had my small flock of 5 chickens for a year-got them from a hatchery as day-old chicks May 2, 2018. They have a well-made, roomy coop, an attached covered run area, and a new open-aired run that is covered by wire to keep out hawks, which are plentiful here. My flock consists of 2 BA, 2...

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone out there can help me solve this mystery that plagues me daily. The facts: 1) We have 5 Hens, all 9 months old. Two Plymouth Barred Rocks, Three Buff Orpingtons. 2) First egg was laid Sept. 27th (four months ago) 3) The hens are fed 16% protein, Scratch and...

Hi, I have 1 young silkie pullet (I think) that I have only had for about 2 weeks that I bought in a pullet pair but the other one has passed away, but I feel my silkie is lonely so I have found a little bantam hen that is up for sale due to being picked on by the rest of the other chickens. I...

Our seven hens decided to go on strike suddenly. They've been laying perfectly for months. Then suddenly stopped one day. What could cause this? They have constant clean water and nutrutious feeding. Nothing has changed but the weather. Though that hasn't prevented them before.

We have a flock of 14 layers (2-4yrs old) who are suddenly down to 0-2 eggs daily. My first thought was molting (we live in CT), but in my 15+ yrs of owning a flock I've never seen such a drastic decrease in laying d/t molt. Their behavior also seems off, skittish and bunching in corners of the...

I have noticed my Australorps closing their eyes seemingly at random. I have also noticed sneezing, but that seems to be while eating, so not so worried about that. Could this be as simple as the wind or sun in their eyes? Or something else?