Broody/Aggressive/Moulting/Eggbound/Generally crazy hen...

[Daisygirl]

Hi all,
My Brown shaver hen (born August, started laying January, been acting odd since febuary) has been acting strangely since she started laying;
at first she was broody

Then she started acting all angry toward the other hens during feeding time (soon after broody buisness, but she was laying again by then)
Then she started having large patches of missing feathers particularly around her abdomen. She was broody again at this stage.

Then she sort of moulted, at least a large amount of feathers were everywhere and all the other hens looked normal. This was several weeks after her being broody.

And now shes acting normally, except shes not laying. Shes eating, drinking, not moulting, gets on with both me and the other hens and doesnt seem to be eggbound???? But then I dont have a very good idea of what them being eggbound looks like...
Its autumn now, but the temperatures have been fairly consistent since summer, its just gotten slightly colder at night.
The only other thing I could think of is the hedge was cut last week, but she wasnt laying then anyways. And by hedge, I mean tree line that runs all along the length of the run (a good 10 ms) and has been chopped so the side of the house is now sunny instead of incredibly dark...

So I have turned to the mighty chicken gurus for help...I am not particularly worried about her, but need to know if I should be. Mostly Im just incredibly confused

anyone got any ideas?

 

[faykokoWV]

the only thing I can maybe answer is the feather loss on the belly. The hens actually pull out their own feathers when they are trying to hatch eggs. This allows the eggs to be right next to the mother's skin to increase heat and humidity

 

[Daisygirl]

Well thats something I didnt know

Thanks for the reply!