BROODINESS VS Egg-bound

[Chicka Chicka]

I have a chicken who has been sitting on a nest for about a week. We take her out from time to time so she can eat and drink. She has gone broody before, but never for this long. She is not laying (or not that we know of, but I will update) but does not show the signs of being egg-bound. Should I treat her for being egg bound or just leave her be?
Please post any questions!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She's more than likely broody. I personally have never had an egg bound hen and believe it's not as common as it might seem on this site. Folks think they are because they go looking for an egg and find one but it doesn't mean it is stuck, it just means the hen hasn't laid it. A truly egg bound hen will be sick, she won't eat or drink and is reluctant to move and will get worse as time goes on, often there's liquid coming out or diarrhea. They will also drag their wings.

A hen will stay broody for approximately 4-8 weeks, and sometimes longer without being broken. They will lose weight and can often become overrun with parasites, so it's best to break them.

 

[Chicka Chicka]

Thank you so much... That is very reassuring! Are there different methods to get a chicken to end BROODINESS rather than just lifting the chicken off?
-sorry about the weird BROODINESS auto correct:/

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The best and quickest way to break a broody is to put her in a wire bottomed crate elevated off the ground so her underside cools off, usually 3 days will do it, some can take up to 5. They cool off which shuts down the hormones that are driving the broodiness. Sometimes just blocking the nests can work but will take longer.

Auto correct will drive you crazy and make you speak gibberish.

 

[aart]

My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.
Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.