I have 7 hens and only one is laying right now. The others are still a bit young. I have cochins. There is another hen that has a huge comb and wattle and I am expecting her to start laying in about a month or so. Well this morning I looked out and all my chickens were in the backyard hunting for grasshoppers and I noticed the hen with the huge wattles was missing. I went out and checked in the coop. There she was in a nesting box. Usually when I open the coop door they all run away from me. She just layed there. I tried to shoo her out of the box to see if she had layed anything and she wouldn't budge. I literally had to pic her up to look under her. There was no egg. She hasn't started laying yet. Is the behavior she's exhibiting broodiness? Can a chicken go broody before she's even layed an egg yet? I was very suprised she let me get that close to her let alone pic her up. She didn't even try to get away. When I put her back down she just stayed in the box.