Broody?

[deeretruck]

I have a buff hen who's been on the nest for about 3 days. Was scared she was egg boung so my wife and I examined her. See or feel nothing. Sat her in warm water for 30 minutes like I read. We have no roosters. The bad part is she's our favorite of the bunch. Her vent puckers all the time like she's trying. I'm not sure what broody is, read the deff. in the glossary. Maybe she's broody. If so, how long do they stay that way. I don't think she's eating or drinking. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[KCNC06]

Does she appear sickly other than just wanting to sit on the nest? If you stand her up, will she walk around or does she just sit back down? How does her comb look, is it still red? If you're not sure she's eating, you may want to try giving her some "treat" type foods to see if that will get her to eat. My chickens (and apparently many others, since I learned these treats from other BYC members) love oatmeal and salt-free canned corn.

Broody just means they want to sit on the nest and try to hatch an egg, they don't care if the eggs aren't fertile...unfortunately they don't seem to understand that they need a man to make a chick and trying to explain the birds and the bees to a chicken is extremely difficult.

Apparently they can be broody for a REALLY long time, I have one pain in the rear hen who has been sitting on - and hogging - the nest for almost two months now. She'll leave the nest just long enough to eat and get some water a few times a day, but other than that she won't leave. When she does leave the nest, she makes a HUGE commotion...squacking and flapping her wings all around like she's some big important deal.

Unfortunately, earlier this year I learned that lots of things can cause chickens to act a little funny. I love my favorite EE hen in February and we were never able to figure out what happened.

Good luck!

 

[deeretruck]

Thanks for the reply. I've been doing alot of reading and I think she's broody. She's been picking feathers and cusses me when I pick her up out the nest. So I read to just get her out. I did that and she stood there for a minute and "went" the biggest I've ever seen. Then she was mean to the rest of the flock. We fed them oatmeal and calcium. They ate it up, so did she. But tonight when they went to roost she was back on the nest, not up on the limbs in the coop. We feel a little better and have our fingers crossed.

 

[KCNC06]

Definitely sounds like she's broody to me! Hopefully she gets over it quickly...it's annoying! They don't lay as well, if at all, when they're broody. Some of my girls will move to alternate nests outside of the coop when someone's hogging up the "good" nest. Darn girls only like one nest!