Why is my chicken being weird?

[carolthom]

I have a red sex link hen that started laying on her nest right after she lost her flock last month due to a coyote attack. I thought she was depressed so I got a few more chickens to go in with her (we free range our chickens, btw). After a day or two she got off her nest and acted normal again. About 3 weeks after that she laid her a clutch of 8 eggs and started sitting on them. She acted broody so I got some fertilized eggs for her to lay on. That was a week and a half ago. She acted broody, fluffing up and squealing when I got too close so I left her alone to do her thing. This morning I noticed that she was laying strangely on her nest, so I picked her up. She had eaten all but one egg. No shells were left. It seems as though she's eating the eggs so she can stay on her nest. All the eggs she's laid have strong shells so I don't think calcium is an issue. I really think she's just eating the eggs in order to stay on her nest all day long. When I do take her off her nest she struts around the yard with her feathers fluffed out and making a weird clucking noise. What's going on and what can I do to help her?

 

[sourland]

Are you certain that a snake or some other predator has not eaten the eggs ? If she has been eating the eggs, the nest should be a mess and the remaining egg should be covered with yolk.

 

[carolthom]

No, I'm not 100% certain that a snake isn't getting them. That is the only predator that would be possible. We've seen a snake in our barn before, but not in a couple of months. Also, before we lost all of our hens, they would all lay in the same nest and we wouldn't collect eggs for a few days and they wouldn't be touched. Would a snake go around a hen without bothering her to get her eggs?

Another reason we think she's eating them is we haven't seen her get off of her nest in a full week and a half. I'll look all throughout the day in the pasture and I've never caught her outside getting a drink or a bite to eat. My husband hasn't seen her leave her nest at all either.

I just don't know, it could be a predator I guess.

 

[chickens really]

I would remove her from her nest and block it off...Try seeing if she actually is broody or just stressed from the attack...Try to get her out and about acting happy again...
Best wishes.....

 

[carolthom]

I got the one egg that she had left and put her off her nest. I'll go back out there a few times to make sure she's out and about. Thanks!

 

[azygous]

I believe your hen has been broody and was sitting on the eggs you gave her. Broodies go into a sort of trance, and will not react to a snake slithering under her and snatching her eggs. Rats could also have done this crime.

It's doubtful your hen is so devious to concoct a scheme such as this to gain nest privileges. Chickens just aren't wired to think that way. If they want to do something, they just do it. They don't conjure up a flimsy justification like a three-year old human would.

If you are curious, and I sure am, and want to see whether or not this broody actually ate the eggs or not, block off the nest with field fencing large enough for a snake and a rat to squeeze through but not a chicken. Place a few eggs in the nest and see if they disappear.

You won't know what snatched them, but you will know it wasn't the hen.

If you want to find out what critter is responsible, you could set up a nest of eggs as bait inside a trap.

 

[Abriana]

You can buy cheap minnow traps at Walmart. According to another thread, they work really well for snake catching without harming the snake- and then you can safely carry the culprit to some woods far from your coop and release him with no harm done to you or the snake.