Broody hen?

[filmcmahon]

hello everyone, it’s been a while! so this past week when i went to check the nest boxes for eggs, i noticed my grey silkies down feathers all over her favorite box. i added some diatomaceous earth to it because a month ago we had some mites, so i thought they might still be bothering her. anyways, i cleaned the feathers out and the next day a second nesting box had her feathers all over. also, she is always in the nest box when i go see the girls. always. so i started putting food and water in the coop where the nesting boxes are to see if she would eat stuff, but she mostly picked out the calcium, ate it, and ate a wee bit of food. so in the evenings when i put them to bed, i take her out of the box to eat some food at drink before bed, and she acts TERRIFIED. like she is non stop low clucking, running around frantically, etc. today i noticed her poop was enormous so i took a picture, then she pooped again shortly after and it was green. we didn’t give them any green veggies yesterday so i thought that was weird. also, she is always scratching around the run when i put her in there! like digging! and scratching her beak on a piece of wood we have in there.
as for her feather loss, i flipped her over and she has bare skin on her underbelly.
is this just broodiness? she will be a year old in june. has been laying since december ish.

oh i forgot to mention; she puts her tail in the air and her head really low then puts her wings out when i go near her in the run.

 

[chickenhugger69712]

Hello! I would say you have a broody hen. Especially since Silkies are a very broody breed.

 

[aart]

Sounds broody to me.
Do you want her to hatch?

 

[filmcmahon]

Sounds broody to me.
Do you want her to hatch?

i don’t think that’s what we want at the moment!! we have only had our gals since june so this is our first spring with chickens. is there anything we can do to stop her being broody?

 

[aart]

is there anything we can do to stop her being broody?

There sure is!

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

Having a crate or two around is very good tool for all chickeneers:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer.72619/

 

[filmcmahon]

There sure is!

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 2044660

Having a crate or two around is very good tool for all chickeneers:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer.72619/

thank you so so much!! we actually do have a crate like that so that looks perfect.

 

[aart]

we actually do have a crate like that so that looks perfect.

Do you have some 1x2" cage mesh to put on the bottom?
Follow the link I added to kinda see how.