Chicken

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Dollie 1

Dollie 1

In the Brooder
Aug 20, 2015
44
1
34
Our road island red ,bare with me she is all ruffled up and she stays in the cup,she does come out.can anyone tell me what she is doing
 
She is going "broody," which means she wants to sit on eggs and hatch them. Broody hens can be very fierce about protecting their eggs or chicks. Is she actually sitting on eggs? Do you have a rooster with your hens, so eggs would be fertile?
 
Sounds like she may have gone broody, which means she is wanting to hatch some chicks. Is she sitting on any eggs in the nest box or the coop? Check out the forums for "broody hen" and you'll find lots of info and advice.

There are ways to try to break a hen out of being broody. Or, if you're wanting more chicks, you can always let her sit on eggs (if you've got a rooster and they're fertilized) or get her some fertilized eggs to hatch. We just did that with one of our barred rock hens who just wasn't going to give it up till she got to be a mom.
 
No she is not sitting on any eggs,my husband goes out an gets the eggs&page doesn't do anything,she lets him take the egg or eggs .we also don't have a rooster either
 
My broody hen also let us take the eggs--she was never aggressive about it, but she still wouldn't leave the coop. The next day she'd be sitting in whichever box had eggs in it.

Check to see if your girl has pulled the feathers off of her belly. You might see them in the nest box and you can also lift her up to see if her tummy has a bare spot. They do that to literally "feather the nest" and so they can have bare skin against the eggs to warm them more effectively.

I was worried our hen was sick when she first started behaving this way, but her bare tummy, fluffed-up feathers and refusal to leave the coop even without eggs to sit on were all just signs she had gone broody.

We don't have a rooster either, which is why we decided to get her some fertile eggs to sit on. But we were also fine with adding some chicks to the flock. If you don't want to do that, there are quite a few things you can try to break her out of being broody. This is a very good thread on the subject: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/181289/how-to-break-a-broody-hen#post_2176186
 
This is what our chicken is doing ,my husband takes her out about ever other day
 

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