"fluffy" Buff Orp.seems in distress. Help!

[vanallison]

****After original post, I now believe she is a broody hen, ADMIN can delete this post!**** My 1 yr.old Orpington has been walking around with all her feathers fluffed out for about a week now. She rubs her beak on the ground, and has lost all the feathers on her stomach area. At first I thought she was broody because she has been staying in the laying boxes with her bum resting up against the corner of the box. I felt her stomach for eggs and she doesn't seem to have any obvious distention or hardness so I don't think she is egg bound. I asked a vet friend who has no clue what it could be. Any insight here?

 

[vanallison]

I'm hoping she's just a really intense broody hen! I just thought I'd see if I should be worried about it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Good to know thqt she may just be broody. At the top of this page is the search box, and if you enter "How to tell if a hen is broody," there will be many threads to read with descriptions of broodiness.