Crazy Barred Rock

[YumaJohnny]

I have 5 Barred Rocks - This afternoon I checked the eggs and I had 5 (normal) then I saw one of the chickens running away from the other chicks with her neck feathers out and her wings slightly spread out. When she was around me she was fine but when the other hens got close she just freaks out. Any suggestions???

 

[YumaJohnny]

Ok now what I observed this morning when they all went to feed 2 of the chickens keep attacking one of the chickens - so it basically looks like there is 4 on 1 but like I said I have only seen 2 of them attacking the crazy acting one - any suggestions?

 

[speckledhen]

neck feathers out and her wings slightly spread out.

How old is this bird? Could she be broody? The crazy actions sound like one gearing up to raise chicks. Had one run around like that for two months and today is Day Six on the nest with 9 eggs. Sometimes they work up to it and the others sort of act disgusted with their newly weird friend, LOL.​

 

[YumaJohnny]

They all just turned 1 year old last week - this behavior has only been a few days - no rooster so not sure if she would be broody - But eggs are collected each day.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, she could be broody, or going that way. Rooster has nothing to do with it nor the fact that you collect eggs daily. It's purely a hormonal thing. A broody will sit on an empty nest.

 

[Bookworm chick]

Quote:
They don't need a rooster to be broody. They just need him for fertile eggs.
I have 4 pullets hatched last August. They started laying first week in January. In March the first one became broody. Then two more became broody the following month. Since I don't have room for more chickens, I just let the first pullet hatch one egg. I have just continued to collect the eggs daily and don't let any accumulate under the broody that's still setting.
I do take her off the next a couple of times a day and put her outside with the rest. She makes those weird broody noises and fluffs herself up and flaps her wings. I think she gets on the other's nerves though. Once in awhile one will chase her away.
The broody will probably stop laying though at some point. Usually a broody will stay on the nest all night instead of roosting with the rest.
We do have a rooster with our flock.

 

[YumaJohnny]

she stayed on the nest last night - what should I do with her then?

 

[RM44]

I'd get her some eggs to hatch, but that would be purely for the "fun" of it!

 

[chicks4kids]

One of my barred rocks just hatched out her chicks, and at first I thought she was crazy acting, until I realized she was broody

She is a wonderful mama to those chicks and hatch 100% hatch rate....The only problem I had with her was that she was so dedicated to hatching those eggs that I had to give her a potty break once a day--she did not want to get up off of that nest

Good luck!

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
It depends. I'm jokingly calling my GLW Crazy Daisy (her name is Daisy) right now because she's currently broody and acting like a madman...making strange sounds and displaying some of the antics you mentioned. I don't have a rooster, and remove eggs daily. She (your girl) will stop laying soon, if she hasn't already. You can either let her sit it out for 21 days or so (so you'll get less eggs), you can stick some fertilized eggs under her to hatch if you're wanting chicks, or you can try to snap her out of her broody spell. There are several different methods of trying to do this. You can search "breaking a broody" to find different ways. I'm just letting my girl go through her phase, since mine are pets and we don't eat a lot of eggs anyhow.