Hen acting strange?

[wefanjr]

7 Month old EE. Since last night she has been just sitting in the nesting box. She's not very active. I've picked her up and put on the floor. She'll go eat and drink but then return to her box. It looks like she plans on sleeping in there. Is this normal? Is she broody? Molting? She laid yesterday, but not today. Any ideas?

 

[Chatychick]

Sounds like she is starting to be broody to me or just cold.

 

[sunnychooks]

When mine go broody they'll sit in the nesting box even if there are no eggs. If you pick a broody up she might growl or puff her feathers at you. If you see that you'll know for sure.
If she's molting you'll see feathers everywhere, but she won't necesarily stay in the nesting box.

In either case, egg production will suffer. If she is broody and you want eggs you can break her of the broodiness.

 

[wefanjr]

It's not too cold here, and i keep a heat lamp on 24/7. She doesn't get angry when i handle her either. if whe was brrody how do you break it?

 

[wefanjr]

How do you break a broody hen? (Day 3 still hanging out in nesting box)

 

[SpottedCrow]

Depends on the bird...
You can put icepacks under them.
You can put them in a wire cage so that the air can go under their naked tummies.
Or you can give up...
Penny becomes a screaming pancake.
Obelisk went right for the throat.

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:

Tina does, too!

Wefanjr, some of those broodies can be very hard to break, but start with booting her off her next and blocking it.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, some broodies just won't quit... and some up and leave on day 19.

If she puffs up, you got one hormonal hen.

 

[Fanny's Mom]

Gee, I hope you're right about just being cold. My Fanny is doing just that, but I'm paranoid about it. The last time she did this was because she was blocked. She had an egg with no shell inside of her! I cleaned her out good and she lived despite the fact that I was told she would die. It's now a year later and she is again in the nesting box when she should be on the high perch with everyone else. Difference from last time is that this time, she wasn't all wet on her underside. I stuck my finger in her vent and did some exploring but couldn't find anything. My finger came out clean. What concerns me is that the part of her anatomy which usually houses the egg to be laid seems swollen. . .definitely bigger than the other girls'.

Didn't know what to do for her, so I gave her some corn flakes (they love them) which she happily ate and installed the heat lamp since it's supposed to go into the teens here tonight. Please someone reassure me that she won't be dead tomorrow morning. I shouldn't say this, but she's my favorite. I have three others: Mabel, Sherra and Libby and one nasty rooster with six-inch spurs that I call Woosta.

 

[wefanjr]

What is the cure for being blocked up? She laid an egg Monday, but that evening she had a long strand of grass (apparently undigested) hanging out of her. Maybe she is having trouble digesting. I put "second cut" grass in the run to keep their feet from freezing and She is obviously eating it. She doesn't appear to be broody due to lack of hostility. I'm baffled. These are my first chickens, 7- 2 EE's, 2 RIR's, 3 Sexlinks