Help please! Broody hen gone AWOL

[chocluver]

Hi everyone

We have a silkie cross that often gets broody (far left in my profile pic, bouffant, so pretty!). We lock her out the nest box for 2 days and she is back to laying...normally. It has been over a week and today we tried sitting her in water. She was on her own for a while after, then went back to the flock. Now she has vanished. They are free range and have a large area that they explore. We have looked and looked for her. We have a big field behind us with grass up to our thighs which they don't like much and it is raining really hard. What do you think her instinct will be? Something low rather than high? Covered or open? We have 30 minutes until it is dark :'(

 

[dekel18042]

Hi everyone

We have a silkie cross that often gets broody (far left in my profile pic, bouffant, so pretty!). We lock her out the nest box for 2 days and she is back to laying...normally. It has been over a week and today we tried sitting her in water. She was on her own for a while after, then went back to the flock. Now she has vanished. They are free range and have a large area that they explore. We have looked and looked for her. We have a big field behind us with grass up to our thighs which they don't like much and it is raining really hard. What do you think her instinct will be? Something low rather than high? Covered or open? We have 30 minutes until it is dark :'(

Hopefully she wasn't taken by a predator (Always a concern), but could she have a nest with an egg or two she is incubating?

 

[chocluver]

Could be a predator... my doubt with that is that there are no feather anywhere. She hasn't laid for 2 weeks and has been sitting on the other hens eggs in the box

 

[chocluver]

The only other place she sometimes goes is in the outdoors cat house (!) but no eggs or chook in there

 

[chocluver]

SHE IS HOME!!

I can't believe it!

No idea where she has been, but just went to tuck them in for the night and there is, back on her nest

 

[Peeps61]

She took a road trip, it sounds like!