Broody? And moulting!

[drawlins]

After getting our three Buff Orpingtons last October, we've fully settled in to being hen servants chicken owners and have become accustomed to their behaviours and personalities etc. They seem very happy with all normal behaviours except a couple of things that have popped up.

1) About 4 weeks ago they all started what I think is moulting (though is it the right time of year for this?). There are quite a few feathers about the garden, and the hens look generally scruffy - but the most notable loss of feathers is on the front, bottom segment of the neck. Please see photos. Is this moulting or is it an egg warmth patch? Egg production has been normal, and they spend HOURS taking pleasure digging our garden for the best possible dirt to bathe in the sun. Skin seems healthy with no parasites or red patches.

2) For the past 48 hours one of them has started getting broody (I think). She sits in the nest box all day, feathers and tail puffed up and will literally let me pick her up and plonk her anywhere. She doesnt peck, but does grumble. At first I thought she was sick, but last night she "snapped out of it" for five minutes to eat and drink when I was changing the food. For those five minutes she was alert and speedy - but then she went straight back to the same next box. Move her to another next box and she'll go right back to the first one again!.

I have read various methods of cancelling the broodiness - including a separate cage with no bedding, or even frozen peas underneath her. The peas idea sounds like it might be effective at lowering body temperature but I'd want to wrap it in fabric to avoid cold burns. Could anyone offer any advice? Thanks!

PS - in the full coop pic, you'll see no roost bar. I became a master carpenter making every size shape and height of roost bar, and despite months of trying these are the only birds in the world that are officially scared of any altitude above 1.5 inches. So they sleep on the floor and I clean the coop every day...

Scruffy neck
Scruffy necks
I'm not going anywhere!
She won't budge from here!

 

[aart]

Not sure about the feather mess, they look rather odd.
Do you get them as chicks?
Do you have any pics of what they looked like before the feather loss?

Ice pack under hen can work, put it in a 'tupperware' type container to contain melt mess and avoid 'freezer burn'.

This works for me:
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(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. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[drawlins]

Thanks for the reply - I think I'll try the cage approach. Bit harder with the CV19 lockdown, but some pet stores are still open here, so I'll look for a cage with the right bar spacing and size.

We got them just at the point of lay - so they are currently about 14 months old. Their feathers were fantastic about 6 months ago - literally perfect. Very sheeny and full.

One possibility might be - if they are NOT moulting - maybe it's the front of the baskets they sit in during laying - there is a little rounded lip at the front, and sometimes two decide they will squeeze in the same one together for no apparent reason. Perhaps the lip is snapping the front feathers.

 

[Criticalicious]

They can molt almost any time of year and yes you have a broody. When they sit on the nest, they go into a trance. That's why she let you pick her up and move her and acted stunned for a few minutes.