Hey cooki2581
Chickens do not technically come into heat like dogs and cats. Not having a rooster does not stop your chickens from going broody.
A chicken’s hormones tell her that it is time to sit on some eggs and hatch out some babies. Determined broodie’s will sit on golf balls and rocks etc once the broodiness hits her.
What they normally do is lay a clutch of eggs (fertile or not) over a period of 10 days or so and then they sit on them. They may become cranky and puff up, warn you and other chickens when you go near the nest.
Even if you take the eggs away from her each day when she lays them, she can still go broody. I have had broodie’s sit on an empty nest for a week.
Some breeds never go broody and others are prone to broodiness. Broodie’s do not lay eggs while broody.
While a chicken is broody, on average, she will only leave the nest once or twice a day (anywhere from 5-30 minutes on average) for something to eat, drink and a leg stretch and a very large, smelly broody poop then back to the nest.
For this reason, if you do not ‘break the broodiness’ and she is not sitting on eggs which will hatch in 21 days, she may continue to sit on the nest and loose condition until she becomes unwell and possibly dies. Some people 'break' their broodie's, others leave them to just let the broodiness run it's course and hope that she gives up.
There is lots and lots of information on ‘how to break a broody’ but probably the most popular is to put them in a broody-breaker which is a wire cage with lots of air flow to cool the chicken down. If she is snug and warm on a nest, the broody hormones continue whereas if she is not on a nest and has cool air the drop in temperature drops the broody hormones.
I will not go into all the details as it would take forever, but a quick search will definitely answer any questions you have on breaking a broody.
chica01 in my opinion, your hen does not sound broody.
You mention she laid her first egg. Any more after this? I have not heard of a hen going broody when laying her first egg but then I guess anything is possible.
When broody hens are in the yard they usually eat as much as they can and have a bit of a run around before going back to the nest. A broodie's wattles and comb will fade in colour which is her way of letting a rooster know she is 'not available' but none of my broodie's combs have gone droopy.
Your hen might actually be unwell. The opening of the beak and general lethargy could be an indication of sour crop or impacted crop. Gape worm can also cause a chicken to open their mouth wide and stretch their neck. How long ago did she lay the first egg and has she laid since? Does she appear to be straining at all? She could be egg bound.
A good indicator that your chicken is unwell is their poop. A broody will not poop while on the nest so when she takes a break she lays a huge, smelly poop. If your hen is unwell she may have very watery poops.
I am not an expert on what ails chickens but I have had to deal with sour/impacted crops and egg bound gals in the past. Some of the things your chicken is doing is similar to those my chickens have done when unwell, not when broody.
