Confused chicken?

[DIMBY]

Abigail is a little over a year old, Austrolorpe, very gentle and easy going. Dependable egg layer. She is molting for the first time and seems confused. I understand that egg laying will decrease if not cease entirely for a spell, but she doesn't seem to get this. For most of this week, she sits on her favorite nest and just, well, sits. I have had to rout her out to make sure she eats and drinks, but within an hour or so, she's back on the nest. I have felt for any bound eggs - none - she is in no pain or discomfort but she is very upset when I remove her from the nest. She seems to be both broody and moltey at the same time.

Has anybody else had something like this happen with a hen?

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Sounds like she might be going broody! She is at the right age.. Are the eggs fertile?

 

[gritsar]

Are you sure she's not just broody and not molting? A broody hen will often pick their chest feathers out to line their nest with.

 

[DIMBY]

Thanks for your replies. She hasn't laid any eggs for 3-4 days now, can't be fertile since I don't have a rooster. Her missing feathers so far are from the sides of her neck, so she couldn't have plucked them out herself. I wonder, since she's such a regular egg layer, she just knows this is her duty and doggone it, she's going to give 'er the old college try no matter what.

 

[gritsar]

I suspect she's broody. If you want chicks you can try and find some fertile eggs for her (folks here on BYC sell them all the time) or break her broodiness. Being broody is hard on their bodies, so you don't want to let it go on too long.