Broody or sick? Please help

[Kate E]

I went to check my flock this evening at 6:30 when I got home from work. It’s 15 degrees and has been brutally cold for some time now, lots of snow on the ground too. The girls were all in their coop, 4 of the girls roosting and one in a nesting box. The hen in the box was sitting on an egg, not her own egg though and she appeared to be sleeping. I patted her back a few times to encourage her to go up to roost and stay warm with the other girls but wasn’t successful in getting her to go very far, she moved to a pile of wood shavings on the floor of the coop below where the other girls are roosting. Is she broody? Can they be broody this time of year? Or, is something else going on? She’s had a healthy appetite all winter and just yesterday was gobbling down some scrambled eggs I gave to the girls as a treat. She’s normally the head hen in charge so it’s strange she would be in a box alone and not on top of the roost with the other girls. I’m worried about her freezing in the box alone all night given the temps we are having. Any suggestions? If a hen is broody do they leave the box to roost? I considered bringing her in overnight but last time I had her separated for bumble foot it was a tall task to reintegrate.

Thanks in advance for your replies. I’m worried about my little girl.

 

[featheredplanets]

Is she fluffing up and making noises at you? Broody hens make a whole array of noises, from purring, growling and screaming like their tail feathers caught fire. They’ll spend most of their day in the nesting box (or where ever they’re nesting), they’ll come out in a rush and run around eating, drinking, dust bathing and they’ll do a big old stinky broody poop (you’ll know it when you smell it). Broody hens don’t get up to roost, I don’t know about brooding in freezing temperatures but I imagine in a coop they’d be okay. If she is broody and you didn’t want that, you have the option to break her broodiness. Do you have any pictures of her?

 

[Kate E]

Is she fluffing up and making noises at you? Broody hens make a whole array of noises, from purring, growling and screaming like their tail feathers caught fire. They’ll spend most of their day in the nesting box (or where ever they’re nesting), they’ll come out in a rush and run around eating, drinking, dust bathing and they’ll do a big old stinky broody poop (you’ll know it when you smell it). Broody hens don’t get up to roost, I don’t know about brooding in freezing temperatures but I imagine in a coop they’d be okay. If she is broody and you didn’t want that, you have the option to break her broodiness. Do you have any pictures of her?

I didn’t get any photos of her unfortunately. My coop is about an acre away from my home, quite the trek in a foot of snow and it’s pure darkness outside, I didn’t have my phone with me when I went out to check on them. She didn’t make a peep when I was patting her on the back, I think I woke her up when I opened the nesting box to check for eggs but after she realized I was there she didn’t really pay any attention to me. After a few pats on the back she got up out of the box and moved to the other side of the coop but didn’t join the other hens on the roost. She looked like she had decent color on her comb from what I could tell from the light of a flashlight. My guess is she isn’t broody if she wasn’t all over me the second I opened the nesting box and started touching her. It’s worth mentioning my hens HATE to be held or touched so petting her isn’t normal.

 

[featheredplanets]

I didn’t get any photos of her unfortunately. My coop is about an acre away from my home, quite the trek in a foot of snow and it’s pure darkness outside, I didn’t have my phone with me when I went out to check on them. She didn’t make a peep when I was patting her on the back, I think I woke her up when I opened the nesting box to check for eggs but after she realized I was there she didn’t really pay any attention to me. After a few pats on the back she got up out of the box and moved to the other side of the coop but didn’t join the other hens on the roost. She looked like she had decent color on her comb from what I could tell from the light of a flashlight. My guess is she isn’t broody if she wasn’t all over me the second I opened the nesting box and started touching her. It’s worth mentioning my hens HATE to be held or touched so petting her isn’t normal.

Unfortunately I can’t help with sick hens, not something I’m knowledgable on.
She may just have gotten comfy in one and hunkered down for the night, it does seem to happen a lot. If you don’t want her to sleep in the nest boxes you could block them off at night

 

[micstrachan]

It’s hard to know based on what you’ve said. Since bringing her in isn’t a realistic option, please check her and report back as soon as you can tomorrow. Check that her crop is empty when she wakes up, or is their feed in the coop? Check that she is pooping, and if so, has she soiled her feathers?
What temperatures are you facing? What are the dimensions of your coop, and how many chickens are in there? What bedding is there and how thick? Is there insulation? What’s in the nesting box and how deep? I’m trying to gst a feel for how she will fare overnight. I suspect she’ll be fine if you haven’t had any issues with frostbite.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If it was dark out, then she was sleeping

I agree with @micstrachan to check her carefully in the morning to see if the crop is emptied, for any injuries, etc.

In the morning, if she doesn't make a growling, fluffed up ruckus when you examine her, I would say she is not broody. It's possible that she was laying an egg and it got dark on her, but further investigation is needed - especially if she is top hen.

If there is any way possible, check on her tonight. How deep is your bedding?

 

[Kate E]

It’s hard to know based on what you’ve said. Since bringing her in isn’t a realistic option, please check her and report back as soon as you can tomorrow. Check that her crop is empty when she wakes up, or is their feed in the coop? Check that she is pooping, and if so, has she soiled her feathers?
What temperatures are you facing? What are the dimensions of your coop, and how many chickens are in there? What bedding is there and how thick? Is there insulation? What’s in the nesting box and how deep? I’m trying to gst a feel for how she will fare overnight. I suspect she’ll be fine if you haven’t had any issues with frostbite.

I checked her this morning, I’ve attached some photos. It is 20 degrees outside and probably 10-15 degrees warmer in the coop. The coop is insulated on 4 walls, the floor is not. On the floor I have 3-4in of pine shavings to keep some of the draft from coming through the bottom. I have one chicken that has a small amount of frost bite on her comb but other than that none of the other girls do. A week or so ago it was -20 degrees without the windchill and the birds were still out in their run, I think that’s why she got a small spot of frostbite. Anyway, the coop is quite large for 5 birds. It’s 5 ft wide, 8 ft long and roughly 4 ft tall. I have nesting boxes built in to an exterior wall so they don’t take up coop space. The nesting boxes aren’t insulated.

When I checked her this morning she was laying in the deep pine shavings under the roost where I left her last night, the other 4 hens were roosting above her. I did find a stash of eggs next to her from my Easter egger that I hadn’t realized she was laying outside of the nesting boxes. I just replaced all of the pine shavings in the coop so she must have thought that was a more comfortable spot to lay but the nesting boxes also have the same pine shavings in them. Anyway, she wasn’t on top of those eggs but close to them so perhaps she is broody? When I tried to grab her to check her crop she immediately got up and darted from me. It was 5:30am and pitch black out and I had the coop door wide open, I didn’t want the other girls to startle and any to get out in this cold and dark. I’ll try to check her crop again tonight when I get home. She does have access to food and water all day and night but it is located in their run off the coop and once they’ve gone in to roost of the night they don’t venture back out into the run, she wouldn’t have eaten overnight. I did see her poop last night when I coaxed her out of the nesting box, it was a large poop but normal in consistency.

Her comb seems to be a bit grey in color but in the 9 months that I’ve had her she’s never had a bright red or vibrant one.

 

[Kate E]

Here is another picture of her from a few months back when I treated her for bumble foot. Now that I’m comparing the two it seems her comb is pretty grey in comparison. Any thoughts?

 

[Kate E]

Sorry, more thoughts. She is coming out of a hard molt, you can kind of see in that photo that feathers on her head and neck are still coming in. I’ve been reading that the comb and wattles can be grey/ pink in color during the winter, when they aren’t laying (she isn’t currently laying, my 2 younger hens are) and when they are in molt. I know a grey color on the comb may also mean something else is going on, just some thoughts.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My thoughts, if she is broody, she would not have gotten up and run from you.
Usually a broody is like a brick, no matter where they are you have to just about pry them up from where they are sitting - growling and making a fuss as well.

A hard molt can make them feel unwell and yes, that could be the reason for the pale comb, but generally a bird will still roost.

Check her feet again when you can just to make sure there is no more bumblefoot that may be painful for roosting. Look her over for lice/mites, check the crop and feel the abdomen for any swelling/bloat. If you have a vet that can perform a fecal float to rule out worms, that's a good idea too.