Broody? What age?

[FeHosting]

Hey everyone,

Today i seen one of my chickens is all puff out. She has not run to the food like she did before. She don't walk off with the others aswell. I was reading about Broody and it seems this is what she is doing but i still think she is not that old to do that yet. So i am asking dose it care what age they are before they do this? or is she getting sick and we just dont know it? I can take a pic of her to show you what she looks like. I do not know what breed she is because we ordered them and never got a breed list. any help i can get for her would be great. She is very nice to us but she picks on anyone who wants to eat out of the blow we have for her. We don't have a nest box for her yet because they are only 3 months old, when can they start to Broody or even start to lay eggs? I think i seen it's about 6 months old...

Thank you very much for reading my post and for any help i can get.

 

[TwoCrows]

Doesn't sound like she is broody. Sounds like she is sick. Does she have any symptoms other than puffed up?...like runny nose, watery eyes, swollen face, coughing, swollen crop, diarrhea, blood in poop, limping, anything?

Check for mites around the vent area, check her over for any injuries, and make sure they have access to plenty of grit.

 

[Jajika]

Hi FeHosting:

When a chicken is "Broody" it means they are brooding. Brooding is a behavior hens do when they are trying to hatch eggs.

They sit on eggs for days at time, ocassionally coming out to egg, drink and poop.

They will puff up if you go into take the eggs. When they come out they often puff up and run around to distract the other chickens from their nest.

If you chicken is not sitting on a nest and puffed up, something else is wrong.

 

[FeHosting]

Hello,

Thanks for the help.

runny nose, watery eyes, swollen face, coughing, swollen crop, diarrhea, blood in poop, limping, anything?

No runny nose, no watery eyes, no swollen face or any area of her, she no coughing at all, she has some diarrhea because I gave them a pear the other day and I seen after that they ALL had some type of diarrhea but all the others seem to be fine with it. No blood in the poop, she is not limping she can walk just fine she don't run anymore like she did before. She can get on the roost bar we have for them she will not get down when we let them out I need to pull her down everyday.

Can you tell me a bit more about grit and what kinds should I ask for? RIght now i feed them layers and srach ​

 

[TwoCrows]

If your chickens don't have access to the yard, then they are going to need grit for their gizzards. Food that is not water soluble needs to be ground up in the gizzard by tiny stones that chickens swallow. So you can purchase grit in most large feed stores, pro manna makes grit. (grit is not to be confused with oyster shell, which is for calcium). Or, you can also provide a large low pan, like those black rubber tubs and fill it with dirt that is dug up from the yard. If it has tiny stones in it, it will provide them with the necessary grit. They can also use it for dust bathing if the tub is big enough. Every week or so you can replace the dirt with fresh dirt so the regular supply of stones is available.