broody, not laying, dirty vent, screams when I approach. is she dying?

[luvmychks51]

My bantam has put herself in isolation and only eats and drinks when I put her in front it the food. She screams when I go in the coop and get near her, even if I haven't touched her. I noticed today that she has poop stuck around her vent and she hasn't laid an egg in months. She just likes to sit on eveyone else's eggs. Is she in pain? Can she be fixed? or do I need to end her misery? Please advise.

 

[Godsgrl]

she sounds broody to me. Does she puff up like a turkey when she screams at you? If she is in a broody mood, she won't lay any eggs. You can either give her fertile eggs to sit on, or break her. To break her, you put her in a wire cage with no bedding to allow cool air to hit her underside. Good luck, there is nothing like a broody hen. LOL

 

[luvmychks51]

so the stuff all over her vent is not a disease?

 

[willkatdawson]

When I have a broody hen if she's sitting on eggs to hatch them or not I take her outside every morning when I open the coop and at least one more time in the afternoon. You won't believe how much feces they hold in when they are sitting. She goes to the bathroom several times and eats and drinks. Sometimes she will even take a dust bath, but then all the sudden she jumps and runs back down to the coop like she remembered she has eggs that need to be warmed. Your hen will behave a bit demented when you take her out. She will flap her wings run around and make all kinds of strange noises. She will run up to another chicken and try to feed it them peck it for being near her. We get the biggest kick out of our screwball broodies. If you want you could trim the feathers around her vent a little, but most likely she held her feces in as long as she could and got some in her feathers. She will clean herself up soon, don't worry. Right now she has babies on her mind. Give her a private place (dog crate ect...) to sit in and put some fertile eggs under her. You'll have chicks in 21 days and the best part is you never have to worry about introducing new chickens to your flock. She'll do it for you and from day one they'll be accepted.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

You might find this post helpful. If she is broody and you aren't going to give her eggs or chicks, she needs to start eating etc again:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=181289

 

[luvmychks51]

i tried what you said and took her out about 2 hrs ago. she perked right up and started eating and drinking. her vent is like you said - just dirty on some feathers. But when i threw some bread one of my big girls (speckels) went over and tried to beat the daylights out of her. Speckels has been giving her a hard time in the coop at night too. So speckels is in the other coop tonigt- not happy about it at first, but shes asleep now.

The other chickens dont bother LC, just speckels. Why is she doing that?