Broody or Sick?

[ChickenMama1988]

Hey everyone!! One of my 1 year old Cinnamon queens i think is broody, but i’m not sure as this is my first time owning chickens.
She sits in the nesting box for most of the day! it was the flocks favorite but they all moved to a different box 3 days ago! She’s completely puffed up when i go in there. She does let me touch her and i physically pick her up out of the box and put her outside and she always goes right for the water and dust bath. She does eat out of my hand and i’ve observed her eating out of the feeder. BUT she hasn’t laid an egg in 3 days and she sits on an empty nest which is the part that’s confusing me!!

any advice would be helpful

 

[Johnchickens2]

Does she sleep in the nest at night? To me, definitely sounds like a broody hen. If she eats and acts normally, she's fine. Some broodies would sit on an empty nest. When they become broody, they stop laying...

 

[SueT]

It sounds like broody behavior if she sleeps there as well. Do you want her to hatch eggs?

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Yep, she seems to be broody. My broody would sit on an empty nest all day if I let her. When hens are broody, they eat/drink/poop less and they stop laying (in fact, the longer she stays broody, the longer it will likely take for her to start laying again). I just kept taking my girl off the nest - walked her all the way across the yard, as far from the coop as possible and then repeat until she quit trying to get back on the nest. A couple days, I even had to close the coop entirely after the rest of the girls laid, so Pippy couldn't go in (it took her about a week to start laying again). My process doesn't work for all people, but if you search "broody breaking" you'll find tons of advice! Good luck!

 

[SueT]

To break the broody-ness, I put the hen in a wire bottom cage for 2 or 3 days/nights. Then I return her to the flock, if she goes back in the nest, it’s back to broody jail for another night…

 

[ChickenMama1988]

It sounds like broody behavior if she sleeps there as well. Do you want her to hatch eggs?

yes she sleeps in there, i do move her to the roost some nights. i want her to hatch eggs but we are not set up for it or at least i don’t think we can! we are having a huge coop designed and built with isolation areas built in but right now they are in a 4x6 shed and there’s not much room for long term isolation. I’d love to let her do it now if it’s possible without isolating her, if not it will have to wait until october when the new coop is done

 

[SueT]

Definitely wait. Most hens don’t go broody in the fall, but it is worth waiting for more space, even if next year…