Chicken separating from other, staying in coop and not laying. Not sure what to look for if mites?

[Pork Pie]

Is broody okay? Will she stop?

It depends on whether you wish to hatch chicks. If not, check out this link - Breaking a broody hen

 

[BlueBaby]

Is broody okay? Will she stop?

If you don't want her to be a momma with chick's then you will have to try to break her of it. If you want to have chick's then separate her from the other's and give her some fertile egg's to sit on to make her happy.

 

[DobieLover]

Is broody okay? Will she stop?

She won't stop until she hatches eggs so you will need to break her. The longer you allow her to be broody, the harder she'll be to break. It's also hard on hens bodies because they don't eat, drink or exercise well when broody.

 

[Mychickiesmkm6569]

If you don't want her to be a momma with chick's then you will have to try to break her of it. If you want to have chick's then separate her from the other's and give her some fertile egg's to sit on to make her happy.

Okay, goodness. How do I break her of this thought, behavior especially if I can't be with her for support?

 

[DobieLover]

Okay, goodness. How do I break her of this thought, behavior especially if I can't be with her for support?

Get a small wire dog crate, put it up on blocks for lots of air flow under her and put her in the crate with food and water.
Read the article that @Pork Pie linked for you. It can take some time to break them. I just broke one of my hens and it took 8 days. Another only took 3 nights and one day in the crate to break. It depends on the bird.

 

[Mychickiesmkm6569]

Get a small wire dog crate, put it up on blocks for lots of air flow under her and put her in the crate with food and water.
Read the article that @Pork Pie linked for you. It can take some time to break them. I just broke one of my hens and it took 8 days. Another only took 3 nights and one day in the crate to break. It depends on the bird.

Okay, this is a much better issue that all of the back things I was thining and feeling. Thank goodness! Thank you all of you for your quick responses and advice. I really appreciate it.

 

[starri33]

@Mychickiesmkm6569 , if she's in the nestbox, doesn't want to get out, hisses and tried to peck at you, you have yourself a broody, that is what mine did, she'd puff up, hiss at me and try to bite me..lol, she did not want me getting her eggs. She'll get down time to time to eat, drink and poo. At least till lockdown, day 18, she stay on the nest period till they start to hatch, if you have a roo, then you might get chicks, if you don't you'll need to make sure to take the eggs each day, otherwise you'll end up with bad eggs, the others ought to be able to tell you how to break her.

 

[aart]

Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.


If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.