Chicken just sitting in nest

[zekintha]

I have an 8 month old Easter egger that to my knowledge is healthy, haven't noticed any problems with her until today. Ears and drinks normally but this afternoon my daughter brought it to my attention that she has been sitting in the nest for an unusual amount of time. I checked on her before and yes she is still in the best (going on just over 4 hours now). I picked her up checked her over (spot check seems all fine) and put her on the coop floor. She proceeded to walk right back to the nest and sit down. She hasn't laid today, but is sitting on two plastic eggs. Could she be trying to hatch them?? What could be the issue?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She does sound broody, did she make any screeching when you picked her up, fluff up her feathers when walking around and did she make a clucking noise while walking around?

 

[Coker farms]

try taking her out of the nest, if she pecks or fluffs up her feathers, chances are she's broody.

 

[zekintha]

I went to check on her and Locke them
Up for the night. She was still in the nest. I reached in picked her up and she seemed ok. I put her back down on the floor and moved the plastic eggs. She walked around a bit, looked in the nest and walked away. Never pecked me or fluffed or made any noise.. Thinking she might have just been confused. I'll keep an eye on her the next few days

 

[azygous]

You need to keep an eye on this one. If she's not broody, and it doesn't sound like she is, she could be having a problem passing her egg.

I have a couple such hens. They will spend hours on the nest without producing an egg. It can require several days of sitting on the nest, off and on, for an egg to finally appear.

One hen, a six-year old Cochin, took a week, recently, to produce her first egg of the season. I needed to put her in a crate on a heating pad for three days running, for an hour or so, and that finally got the egg going. She recently laid her second egg of the season, but it took two days of trying. Granted, she's old, but she's had this problem for years.

The other one is an EE and the same age. She's been laying, but sometimes she will sit for hours on the nest without producing an egg. The other day, I was checking on her and saw she was in the process of laying the egg. She grunted and grunted, grunted and grunted. If a hen could get blue in the face from straining, she would have been midnight blue.

I was about to whip her off the nest and stick her in a warm tub of water when she finally got the egg out. I took a look at her vent, fearing I'd see a prolapsed vent, but she was okay.

If your girl continues this behavior, you can try warm water soaks or place her on a warm heating pad under a towel for an hour. It can often relax them to the point they can then pass the egg, even if it's 24 hours later.

 

[zekintha]

Well I went and checked on the girls this morn, and she's now sitting in another nest. I have about 12 nesting boxes and had put plastic eggs in about 9 of them (the bottom layer, never have I found any of them in the top boxes) I had removed the eggs from the three boxes she was around yesterday, well today she is sitting in a different box with ALL the plastic eggs under her. Should I remove all the eggs from the boxes??

All my girls are layers only reason I put the eggs in there was becuase two of the girls were fighting over one of the boxes the other day.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have had broodies who make no noises or do any of the regular behaviors, they just sit quietly. I would remove the eggs at least temporarily. She may feel like she's going to lay but hasn't yet. Keep removing her if she's still sitting in the afternoon.

 

[azygous]

If this hen moved all those fake eggs to one nest, then she may very well be broody. There are many signs a hen is broody. You may not know them. First, remove her from the nest and examine her keel bone. Is she bald on each side of the sharp ridge? You may have noticed small feathers appearing in the nests she's been occupying. This is one of the first signs of broodiness - loss of feathers to expose skin so direct contact with the eggs she's sitting on will be possible.

Place your hen out in the run. Watch what she does. Does she fret and emit a soft popping noise, not her regular cluck? Does she act irritable and irritate the other chickens with her fussiness? Does she eventually, but pretty quickly, make a beeline right back to a nest? Does she puff up like an angry badger and screech and maybe try to peck you when you try to take her off the nest?

"Yes" to all the above and you definitely have yourself a broody. Then your decision is to leave her to sit on some fertilized eggs for the next three weeks or to break her and get her back to normal in a few days.

 

[zekintha]

Thank you all for ur help. I took her out (checked her over and doesn't seem to have any lose of feathers) she did make some
Noise as I picked her up but no pecking. I placed her outside in the sun and removed the "eggs". She wandered back in looked around and then walked back outside. She is now wandering the yard with the rest of the girls. I'll keep an eye on her for the next few Days and hope this is it.

Didn't think I'd have to worry about any of them wanting to hatch an egg since I don't have a rooster. (Still learning here! Jacket even been at this a year yet)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Being broody is a hormonal state that requires no roosters. She could be pre broody, keep removing her, also younger birds often don't know what to do when they are broody.