Broody or Egg Bound 10 month old Silkie... Or something else?

[JumpinOmega]

Yesterday I Went out to collect the eggs and found my silkie in the nesting box. She was backed into the corner of the box, feathers fluffed, tail high and quiet. I left the eggs in the other nesting box because I found a really really small egg and I thought my son would enjoy discovering it. Later that day I went back out with my son to collect the eggs. My silkie was still in the same box. Odd. I checked under her and nothing was there. I stroked her back, felt her bottom and all seemed normal. She was in the exact position as stated above. She did growl a little when I reached under her and pressed her body into the nesting box when I was searching for an egg. And she pressed her bottom down when feeling her butt.
Late yesterday evening she was still in the box. We brought her in the house so that I could look at her more closely. She had some dry clumps of poo tangled in her tail fluff but no hard area around her opening. Nothing oozing from her butt either. Dry and healthy looking. She did sneeze once and had 1 wet nostral after the sneeze.
We put her back in the run with the rest of the chickens. I checked on her this morning and again she was in the nesting box. No eggs under her. There was an egg in the box next to her. It was a small egg and it looked like hers...? I took her out of the coop and placed her on the ground in the garage and she did a HUGE poop and then 2 small poops. All were dry poops. No watery or black tar poos. Regular smelly poops. Just really big. She walked out to the cement where the ground is wet from rain and she proceeded to drink rain water from a puddle on the ground.
After she drank what she wanted I put her back in the run with the rest of the chickens. She shook and fluffed her feathers, walked around a bit, scratched the ground and forraged. (I was watching her from my window in the house.) I went back to the window a few minutes later and she was sitting at the entrance of the coop looking out. Now she is back in the nest.

Any ideas? Could she be egg bound and the egg is really far back? Does a chicken still poop if she is egg bound? Or maybe she is broody? But she did not lay on the eggs in the other nesting boxes... Thanks for reading and I hope that I can get some sound advise on what to do ... if anything.

 

[Suzie]

From your description of her stance and behaviour i would say she is broody - some of my Silkies will sit in a nesting box all day even though I remove the eggs..... her poop is typical of a broody - they somehow seem to store it up and deposit a huge amount all at once, followed by a couple of small ones.

By the very fact she growled a little is so typical of any of mine when they are broody and I take their eggs away..... she is likely to be this way for a few weeks if she IS broody.

Suzie

 

[JumpinOmega]

Hi Suzie,
Thanks for the comment. It makes me feel better. Do any of your Silkies lay eggs while they are broody? I have read that chickens do and do not lay eggs during this time.???

 

[Suzie]

None of my Silkies lay eggs once they "set" on their nest of eggs - I have one at the moment who is sitting in a nesting box without eggs ( I took her eggs away as I did not want any chicks being hatched in the Winter ) she is adamant that she will produce something! She did move into other nesting boxes with eggs but she doesn't bother to move boxes now as she is probably fed up of me raising her backside up to search for any eggs.

It is possible that your Silkie is in the transition of starting her 21 day sit-in and she may have laid an egg yesterday. If she truly is broody now you should not have any more eggs for some while.

Suzie

 

[JumpinOmega]

Ok, well I guess I will just continue to watch her. Do you take her out of the nesting box to make sure she is eating or drinking? My girl is the peace keeper of the flock. She is not as social with her feathered flock as what she is with her human flock. When she is out in the yard she follows her humans everywhere. But yesterday ...She didnt come out.

 

[Suzie]

Yes,she needs to be removed from her nesting box to eat and drink she should be supervised to ensure she does eat and drink - I take mine out of the nesting box and "wake them up" - i take them outside and if they sit down i will keep picking them up until they start walking about and taking notice of their surroundings.

Good luck!

Suzie

 

[JumpinOmega]

Lol ok I will make sure that she is poked at by myself and the kids to ensure that she is getting her daily dose of love and food. Thank you for all your help!