chicken gone crazy

[NampaChikenLady]

So one of my hens has not been herself the last few days. All she does is sit in her box and has become very aggressive if you get near her. Shes been laying eggs for about a month now and I can't tell if she is sitting on any now and I'm not about to get bit trying to find out. I don't have any roosters so she's going to be sitting there a long time if she thinks shes going to have chicks. I don't know what I should do.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Its called "Broody" or "Sitting", it means her hormones say "HATCH EGGS NOW!!!!!" so shes being aggressive so that she can protect her eggs, and is sitting in the box to keep her eggs warm until they hatch. Since you don't have a rooster, would you be willing to get her fertile eggs to hatch? If you want to break her set her in a wire cage and hang it up. Let her stay in there for a few days until she starts acting like herself again.

Has she stopped laying? If so , its normal, if not, you have a very odd chicken

 

[yorklady]

What a great opportunity to slip her some fertile eggs and let her raise the babies instead of you.

 

[NampaChikenLady]

I'm pretty sure she has stoped laying. How does one go about getting fertile eggs? Sorry. This is all new to me

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Oh its fine

OK so you can either look on here and have shipped eggs, but they don't always work out, or you can look on craigslist for fertile eggs or say, eating eggs for sale and ask if they have a rooster (some people sell eating eggs that you can use at hatching eggs)

Thats all I can think of

 

[Eggcessive]

She may go broody again one day, but they are fairly easy to break. I put mine in a different coop or place they can't fly out of, and I get them a buddy so they don't freak out being alone. It takes about 3-5 days, and if she runs right back to her nest box, just put her back for another day or two. It's nice to have chicks but it is better to do it in spring or early summer.

 

[donrae]

You can usually post on your local craigslist and find someone willing to get you fertile eggs. BUT, since you're new with chickens, you might not want to go that route. Do you have a set-up to allow her to brood the eggs for 3+ weeks? How about some way to potentially seperate momma and babies if the other hens decide to go after the babies? And what will you do with baby roosters you hatch out?

Sorry if I sound negative, but those are things you'd need to think of before starting eggs incubating. There are seveal threads on here about breaking a broody, look around and see what method will work best for your situation.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

She may go broody again one day, but they are fairly easy to break. I put mine in a different coop or place they can't fly out of, and I get them a buddy so they don't freak out being alone. It takes about 3-5 days, and if she runs right back to her nest box, just put her back for another day or two. It's nice to have chicks but it is better to do it in spring or early summer.

Actually, they aren't, at least ours never are.

I would imagine it doesn't matter much when you have them so long the mom is a good mom so that she'll keep them warm