Hen not laying eggs but in the box all day and night

[lunahills]

I have a hen who hasn’t laid an egg in the past three days but has been hanging out in the box all day and night. It has been in the 90s here so at first I thought the heat was keeping her from laying. Now I’m concerned that she isn’t drinking and is dehydrated. She’s acting a little lethargic and making a quiet noise she doesn’t normally make. She’s the head hen and is usually quite feisty. I did see her chase one of the other girls today, but overall she seems much less energetic. I checked her vent and nothing seems abnormal. What could be going on, and what should I do?

 

[Painted Calls]

Thanks for all the info. My next question is, is this cruel for me to stop her natural instinct? Like am I messing her up somehow?

It's cruel to let them sit and deteriorate for no reason. So no, it's not. You will be doing her a favor.

 

[aart]

We don’t have a roo so there’s nothing to hatch, but I was reading another post that suggests putting her in “broody jail” like a dog crate, which I do already have. I think I’ll do this so that I can force her to eat and drink...it’s been way too hot for her to sit in the coop not drinking.

Might want to give her and the others a dose of Electrolytes/Vitamins.
Small batch measurements here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

I did the “broody jail” starting this morning. I’m watching her in the dog crate right now and she’s moving around, eating and drinking. So that’s a positive! She’s not happy, obviously, so I’m thinking of letting her out in a bit and trying the water idea @JurassicBawk mentioned if I find her in the box again.

If it's really hot, wetting her undercarriage in cool(not COLD)water might be a good idea before putting her in the crate. I'd keep her in the crate tho, if she's really broody she my just go right back to the nest, wet or not. When it's hot I put the crate in the run or a shaded part of the yard.


My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire(1x2) on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

After 48 hours I let her out of crate very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate for another 48 hours.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor,
gives the feet a break from the wire floor and encourages roosting.

 

[Little Baby Bean]

When first going broody hens will lay a big clutch of their last eggs. They expect to be able to sit on them, but when their eggs are collected then they will sit on nothing. And all broodies stop laying eggs once they go broody.

 

[Painted Calls]

What brings this on? Should I have stopped her from sitting in the nest a few days ago? I’ve had to do so in the past but never let it go on for more than a day or so.

Hormones.

It's always best to break them as soon as they start showing signs. Make sure you put nothing in the crate except food and water. No tray on the bottom. Raise it up at least 8-12 inches to get good airflow from underneath.

 

[PoultryCQ]

Thanks for all the info. My next question is, is this cruel for me to stop her natural instinct? Like am I messing her up somehow?

No

 

[PoultryCQ]

I have a hen who hasn’t laid an egg in the past three days but has been hanging out in the box all day and night. It has been in the 90s here so at first I thought the heat was keeping her from laying. Now I’m concerned that she isn’t drinking and is dehydrated. She’s acting a little lethargic and making a quiet noise she doesn’t normally make. She’s the head hen and is usually quite feisty. I did see her chase one of the other girls today, but overall she seems much less energetic. I checked her vent and nothing seems abnormal. What could be going on, and what should I do?

Sounds like she is broody?

 

[PoultryCQ]

She is usually the broody one, but is it normal to do this and not lay any eggs?

Yep, broody hens dont lay eggs when broody

 

[Little Baby Bean]

You can either hatch out chicks or break her broodiness.

 

[linguini]

We don’t have a roo so there’s nothing to hatch, but I was reading another post that suggests putting her in “broody jail” like a dog crate, which I do already have. I think I’ll do this so that I can force her to eat and drink...it’s been way too hot for her to sit in the coop not drinking.

We had a couple chickens that went broody (some more than once). We don't have any crate to use, so the only thing I could do was constantly chase them out of the nesting box, closed the nesting boxes an hour before they go to bed, and restored the box after they roost - so other hens can lay early next morning.
I found that picking them up from the nesting box and put them on the ground (sudden temperature change, perhaps?) worked sometimes. Typically it took them 2 weeks to resume egg laying.