Help - Is my hen brooding

[murphyoleary]

Hi,
My Buff Orphington has stopped laying eggs (her last egg had no shell which was the first time she ever did that) and since then she just sits in the nest. Is she brooding or is she sick. I heard being egg-bound can kill a hen. This has been going on for several days.
She does kick up a fuss when we put her out of the nest which makes me suspect she is brooding.

 

[Break an Egg]

Sounds like she is broody. Put some eggs under her and have her hatch some babies.

 

[chicmom]

When one of my hens went broody, she quit laying, just wanted to sit on eggs, and if you took her off, she would run around frantically, eat, drink, poop, and run back in and sit down real quick. When she ran around, she kind of hung her wings low and puffed out her feathers, looking all dramatic. She also pulled out all her belly feathers. She kind of had a crazy look in her eye and was very grouchy.

If your hen is like that, it's broody for sure!

 

[Pinky]

Quote:
Yep, sounds like a broody. Buff Orpingtons make good mothers.

 

[murphyoleary]

Thanks everyone, I am fairly sure she is brooding. Now I have to figure out how to deal with that

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Hmm. Do you want more chickens? (hee).

 

[bakerjw]

Mine made the puk puk puk sound all the time. When she'd get off to go eat or get water we'd lose her in the midst of the other girls but we could always identify her by the puk puk puk puk....

 

[mdpfeifer]

Hi

My buff orpington has just turned broody as well. This is the first time for me also and I am not ready quite yet to put some fertile eggs under her to hatch (I don't have a rooster). I read somewhere that it is just hormones (and there is not much you can do about it ) and after a few weeks she will return to normal and begin laying eggs again. I have just been letting her do her thing. My other 3 hens are fine and still have lots of other nests to lay in and my broody Lulu still appears healthy and happy other than the fact that she stays on the nest 24/7 and loves to cluck and puff up when you enter the coop. She still lets me pet her though and calms down really fast. I just felt it was better to let her do her thing rather than stress her out by taking her off the nest etc.

 

[Break an Egg]

Quote:
You could always put some baby chicks under her after a few weeks. It is very sweet to see a mother hen and her chicks. There would be little for you to do besides start feeding chick crumbles instead of laying pellets. She would take care of the rest.