Hen has become SATAN chick and stopped laying eggs!

[bizzeeb60]

Help please. I finally figured out which of my five hens was the one laying (actually found her on the nest one day, and there was an egg there when she left nest)

Here is my dilema! Since that day, (about a week now) she has not laid another egg and has become "Satan" chick!

She is attacking the other four hens and even my Roo! She even attached me one morning!

Has anyone ever had this problem before and what do I do the sole this?


Pleease Please I could use some help with this. Hubby is about to Deep Fry all these chicks since they are not producing any eggs.

 

[Chellester]

Sounds like your hen has a very serious case of Broodyitis!!!

In other words, your hen is going broody and wants to set some eggs and hatch chicks.

 

[bizzeeb60]

Quote:
So is this normal? Is there anything I can or should be doing with her? I am afraid she is going to hurt the other hens. Can her behavior be causing the other hens to not be laying? They are 8+ months old and she is the only one that has been laying and not even consistently (only about 4-5 eggs total per week).

 

[Chellester]

Quote:
Yes, totally normal... this is what nature has hens do in order for them to set eggs and repopulate the species.

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You can do one of three things:

1. Just let her be, keep collecting the eggs you get from the other hens, and let her broodiness "run it's course"... eventually, if she does not have any eggs to set on she will give up on being broody. This can take a few days to a few weeks.

2. Give her a clutch of eggs to set and hatch in a seprate nest away from the nest(s) that the other hens use. She will spend almost all her time sitting on the eggs (she will get up off the nest once a day to eat and drink) so she won't be bothering the other hens unless they get too close to her while she is on her nest.

3. Put her in a pen or cage seperate from the other hens and no nest. This usually speeds up the broodiness cycle and in the meantime she won't be bothering your hens. A pen or cage with a wire bottom works best to "break" hens of their broodiness... I use a wire bottom cage for my broody hens that I don't want setting and they usually quit being broody after just a few days.

Her behavior can stop the other hens from laying as well if she is really agressive and chasing them about a lot, so if this is the case you may want to choose option 2 or 3.

No matter which of these methods you choose, it is normal for a hen not to resume laying eggs for a few weeks after she stops being broody, especially if she hatched and is raising chicks.

 

[bizzeeb60]

But she has not laid any eggs in over 1 week, and the other four have not started to lay at all. I understand when you say allow her to sit on the eggs of the others but the others have never laid any eggs yet, so here are no egs for her to sit on.

 

[Chellester]

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That is only one option... you don't have to let her set on anything if you don't want to, and you can always get fertile eggs from someone else. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[chixbvs]

My Sumatra cross sat on an empty nest of shavings for almost two weeks before she finally gave up. That was in July. And now she is sitting on two golf balls and two of those plastic easter eggs (one neon pink, one bright green) that I put in there to encourage the teenagers where to lay when the time comes.

Unless I can get her to hatch something out of golf balls or plastic easter eggs, I guess I just have to wait her out again !

So now I have one broody hen who used to lay daily, four teenagers who have not started yet (any day now, please) three free loaders who never lay, and a carton of store bought eggs in the fridge !

 

[jjthink]

What is their diet?
JJ

 

[BJ]

 

[bizzeeb60]

Quote:
I put fresh laying mash in the feeder every morning. (Being here in Florida, can only put in what they will eat for the day or the humidity makes a messy clump of it all), They also get some scratch mix once a day and if I have stale bread or leftover lettuce, tomatoes, watermelon etc., they get that too.

I actually have a plastic easter egg in each of the nest boxes, maybe I should put more than one in hers?

All I know is I seem to be paying out a lot of money on feed for five hens, and still having to buy my eggs at the store!

Got the first egg on August first and have had a TOTAL of only 2 dozen.....and I thought the price of egs at the store had gotten high