Broody?

[vktuins]

Hi everyone,

Hope all you smart people on this sight can help me. My chickens are all about 1 now and I am a newby at this but love them dearly. I think that one of my Buff Orpingtons is broody? She was in a nest box for the last 2 days and everytime I go near her she puffs up and makes a lot of noises. Well today I got to messing around her by trying to check under her and move her around and she finally got out of the nest box and went out of the coop and the run. She was not sitting on any eggs and I don't have a rooster. She shook and puffed up and started eating the grass and then went directly to a sand hole and started "rolling" around in it. Then she comes out and gets all puffy and the others start going after her. I put her in an old dog cage in the garage with some sand in it to lay on and then some food, water & grass. She doesn't seem the happiest in there, should I let her go back to the nest box so she can stay with the others? Not sure how to handle this!

Thanks for the advice.

Kim

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Yep, that's broody behavior. I'm not sure why boody hens get picked on by the others, but I have seen it too. It is odd that they don't need eggs to sit on to trigger the onset of broodiness. Folk sometimes talk about breaking a hen's broodiness, which usually means repeatedly removing her from the nest box. They usually get over it on their own eventually. I suppose I would let her join the others again. they won't bother her much in the nest box. Once she gives up on being broody they will probably act normally toward her again... just encourage her to get off the nest every once in a while.