I thought she was just broody, but now I'm wondering. Mystery!

[Ellie_NY_chick]

I have a 1 yr old Sumatra hen who was broody a couple of months ago, and I let her hatch a few chicks, although I didn't let her keep them very long because it was too cold outside at the time. Point is I've seen her broody behavior.

About a week and half ago it seemed like she was starting up again: staying in the nest box and squawking at me, not laying, etc. Something is very different this time though. She will not sit on any eggs. She kicks them out from under her, and she also kicked all the hay out of the box.

When I pull her out, she spends a little time in the yard, but she squawks the entire time and every once in awhile she'll just let out a loud "scream" and start running. I honestly thought she was stung by a bee the first time I saw it.

She eats if I put her right in front of the food, she doesn't seems to be drinking much, and her poops look normal. Not ginormous smelly disgusting broody poops - just normal ones. I checked her body and there are no injuries or creepy crawlies on her. When she's in the nest box she rests her head on the bottom of the box. When she was broody before she did NOT do this. Her vent is soft and looks fine.

We did inexplicably lose a hen this past Friday who was acting fine. I don't think this is related. This behavior started before the little hen died. The rest of the flock is fine. The only other thing we did was give away a very dominant roos who was giving the girls a little too much love and making them bald headed.

Any ideas on what her problem is? I love this hen and if she's sick then we'll get her treated, but if she's just broody then we'll wait it out.

Thanks for reading, here she is BTW, her name is Brenna...

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Anyone? No ideas at all?

 

[Dorothy1324]

i am not an expert but when i have had broody hens they don't lay there heads down and usually are very adament about keeping there eggs. You might have some egg bound problems just a thought

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Egg bound

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

Oh dear. If the area around her vent is soft, what else can I do to verify if this is the case?

The head thing scares me. Every time I walk in the chicken house, I think she's dead. I poke her a little (gently) and she gives her little broody-sounding squawk, but it's weak. She does lift her head when I do this.

She did come out this morning for just a couple of minutes for some oatmeal.

 

[chickenchok]

Is her poo still normal? No discoloration, not green or yellow or runny?

 

[Ellie_NY_chick]

No, it's fine. I would say she's broody but she kicks eggs out from under her and she's laying her head down. When I pull her out of the nest box, she eats a little and gets right back in the box. I tried blocking it, but she seriously went ape - screeching with her wings spread completely out - so I let her back in.

It's raining today so I'm letting her alone.

It's seriously weird, but this is the hen that crows, and I've always had roos.