Hi, I have 2 chickens, just under 5 months old. My barred rock started laying pretty regularly 2 weeks ago. Now she seems really upset that her eggs go missing from the nest. She clucks a worried cluck and repeatedly looks for her egg! After we take it in the house she goes in and out of the henhouse and clucks worriedly, and keeps checking the nest for the egg. When we let them free range she looks all around in the grass...not eating bugs or anything just poking her head in and out of tall grasses and walking around...clucking a worried cluck (not her normal voice) all the while. I try to give her a treat when she seems upset like this. Will this go away? She was especially worried today and I don't know what to do...we are new to this. Thanks, 1 barred rock, 1 auracana is our small family.
Hi, We had a hen that got upset over her eggs being taken. My dad put a couple Easter eggs in her nest box and she was happy. Maybe that may work? Chris
A nest egg might make her happy, but she will probably just try to hatch it and will stop laying real eggs. I wouldn't worry too much about it... maybe let her hatch a batch a year if she does go broody.
I was going to suggest putting a golf ball in her nest but I agree, that she would go broody and just sit and try and hatch it. Maybe you could give her some little treat when you take her eggs or when she is searching so hard to find them - just to break up her train of thought. Maybe she and the others would enjoy a cabbage ball pinata or mealy bug keep away now and then to keep her busy.
Hello you should invest in a fake egg that looks like your hens egg and switch it out! Hope this helps!
