Broody Chicken Being attacked by other Chickens. Plus, how to clean chickens.

[Kb975]

Hello,

We have had chickens for a year and it will be 2 in August. We got them at 26??? Weeks or something. So I suppose they're 2 by now.

We have one, what we assume to be, broody hen, always in the laying box, warming the eggs. It makes weird noises when you go near it and fluffs up its feathers. Her tail is up too. I haven't really seen her come out to eat, or leave the coop in the morning with others, I clean the coop every morning. She still poops etc. When she comes out of the coop, the other chickens run after her and attack her. We only have hens. There's 4 altogether.

I find it strange, because before she was like this, she was usually the leader, I think, and there was always one loner hen, but now that one has joined the others.

The broody hen has been this way for approximately 3 weeks. We noticed they started attacking her randomly when she started this behaviour, sitting on the grass alone when they were free roaming.

I *think* this is the same hen that sings the egg song even when no eggs have been laid, it just constantly sings the egg song randomly etc, I don't know if it has a behaviour issue or what. I've noticed she randomly gets scared even when nothing is there, and runs off and make noises [at what I assume to be, perceived threats.].


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We feed them chicken seed feed, and food scraps, and fresh fruit and vegetables. They love watermelon and zucchini.

I have read some of the other threads on here about a similar problem.


Also one more thing, since we got them from a chicken farm with sheds, they don't really like being handled etc. Is there any-way we can wash their faces? They always have dirt build up on their faces or stained with dirt on their faces/beaks & combs. I want to wipe them but it would be a bit difficult if I can't get them to not run away.

I have suggested the vet, if no one else wants to do it I'll just call one out myself.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sourland]

Due to her broody behavior, the rest of the flock regards her as a stranger. Once her broodiness breaks, she will have to fight to regain her position in the pecking order.

 

[CountryWomanFarms]

When I have a broody hen I usually remove her from the nesting box, collect all the eggs and block off the nesting box so she can’t go in there until morning when I open it back up for everyone to lay. It usually does the trick in a day or two but another way I’ve heard to break the broody behavior is to separate the hen and put her in a cage that’s a few inches off the ground so there’s airflow underneath her. But in my expirence this is over kill, I just keep her from the nesting box for as long as it takes.

For your question about their dirty faces, if you want to clean them the best way would be to wait until after dark when they are in the roost. Chickens can’t really see at night so it’s the best time to handle ones who don’t like to be caught.