Broody Hen Question

[BellMarFarm]

I have a 1 y/o RIR who recently adopted an empty Rubbermaid container in my garage as a nesting box. I was ok with it at first as caused no problems at the time. After several weeks of laying her eggs in the box then walking away from it, she became broody, not leaving the box even to eat or drink. 2 days of this was long enough for me to discover what was going on. This happened a little over a week ago. Immediately I isolated her in a wire dog crate off the ground for about 3 days until I was positive her hormones had leveled out. Exactly one week ago today, I sent her back to the hen house by herself while the other hens roamed around the yard with the intention of keeping her there until she began laying her eggs in the nesting box again, (the other hens come in at night). She is restless and not laying. My questions are this:

How long before she starts laying again?

Should I just let her rejoin the flock & hope that she won’t go back to her broody spot? (The Rubbermaid container is no longer there)
**BTW, the "flock" is made up of 4,14 week old hens, that my RIR just started living with about 4 days before she went broody.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Judy]

I would give her a little more time, maybe a couple of weeks, to see if she makes the transition from broody to laying flock member, as long as she's not stayign in one spot 24/7 again..

 

[BellMarFarm]

Thank you for helping me Judy. No she is not staying in one spot, she is wandering around the hen house which is 12'x12' and the hen yard which adds about another 80 sq. feet.

Also I forgot to mention that yesterday she started losing a few of her smaller feathers and today it looks like she is starting to molt because there are feathers all over the hen yard: Coincidence?

 

[Judy]

Haha, I suspect you have solved your mystery! A chicken can definitely molt after a stressor, even though it's not their usual molt schecule.

 

[BellMarFarm]

This poor chicken, she has been through so much over the past few weeks; broodiness, molting and being attacked. On the same day that I started this thread, I witnessed her being attacked by one of the new birds. This was not the first time, however it was brutal: Not your normal pecking order scuffle. After it was done, I picked up my red and carefully inspected her and found that, on her back, just below her neckline, all her feathers were missing and she had small scratches and “bite” marks on her skin. Immediately we picked up the offending chicken and set her I the cone, then the soup pot. Yesterday my RIR and was doing much better and the younger girls were following her around. I suspect she will resume laying in about a week. Thanks for your help Judy.