Broody or egg bound?

[domromer]

Today one of my hens stayed in the nest box all afternoon. Even when it became dusk she stayed outside in the next box while the other hens went to bed. My wife went to move her into the night house and she raised her feathers and hissed like when the other girls bother her in the nest box. We got her inside and she went right back into the nest box.

I can't tell wether she's egg bound or had become broody. She's a year old.

We felt her abdomen and didn't feel anything hard like an egg. I'm not sure whether we should try the warm water bath now or wait till the morning. She just started this behavior this afternoon.

She's in the nighttime coop now but still in the nest box. Will a broody hen try to sleep in the nest box instead of the perch?


Your thoughts?

 

[babyboy1_mom]

Sounds like she is broody to me. That is what my hens do whenever they become broody. I have one sitting on 11 eggs now. I had to move her to a seperate coop because she kept dragging the other eggs into her nest.

 

[babyboy1_mom]

A broody hen will stay on the nest. Getting off occasionally to eat, drink and poop. I find that the closer it is to hatch date, then the less she gets off to eat, drink and poop. I have heard of hens sitting on eggs and not getting off at all. Some will sit on the eggs until they die, waiting on eggs that will never hatch. I would either give her fertile eggs to hatch (what I had to do) or try to break her from being broody.

Dorothy