All puffed up but no chicks

Pegmlee

Chirping
8 Years
Mar 7, 2015
32
6
79
Just north of Baton Rouge, LA
I have a young, laying hen that is making the clucking noise and is all puffed up like she's got biddies. She is still laying and is not setting on any eggs. She pretty much stays by herself since the others tend to pick on her some. Is she just getting ready to set or what?
 
Good question! Not sitting on anything is not uncommon. A broody will incubate air. But a hen will also go broody if she is picked on. It is like a coping thing. She gets to hide for a month!
Watch for other things though. There could be an actual health problem.
 
I had a broody hen sit on eggs for a while, but then she stopped sitting on the eggs and started walking around the run, but she still puffed up and made clucking sounds as if she had chicks. She just seemed to think her eggs had hatched and she had chicks with her. After a couple days she returned back to normal, but during the time hens are broody, they can be pretty psychotic.
 

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