Hen not leaving nest box

[leslielbk]

I have a buff who has been in the nest box pretty much all day. I just went out and checked on her and all the other hens are roosting and asleep. She is just sitting there. Usually when I mess with any of my hens in the nesting box they get mad and leave but she won’t. An she isn’t getting mad either. What all do you think it could be? Worries me. I know eggs can get stuck inside and wondered maybe that was it? Not sure how I would get it out. Or I heard maybe hurt foot and she can’t roost?

Yup. Broody. She'll sit in there forever and a day, whether there are eggs under her or not. Try putting her outside with the other girls every time she goes back to the box, or keep her out of there altogether by putting her in a dog crate inside the coop. But that's never worked for me, so I've just let the broodiness run its course, since she's only doing what her body says and messing with her seems kind of mean (that's just me, now, and not everyone's feeling).
Certain breeds are very prone to broodiness, and Orpingtons are one of them. Pretty, but they like to sit and because of that aren't the best layers.

 

[Criticalicious]

Some broody hens will sit on the nest until something hatches out - whether it's 3 weeks or 3 months. My first and only broody this summer, she refused to break for 6 weeks. We went back and forth for 2 weeks before I gave up. She was determined to hatch the ceramic eggs or even an empty nest. She didn't care - she was going to make babies!

Finally I gave her a clutch of fertile eggs and let her raise the babies. Sometimes she'd run off the nest, eat, dust bathe and run back - to the wrong nest box. I'd move her or the eggs when she did that and it was summer with occasional temps over 100 deg F. During the 3 weeks of incubating plus 2 months of raising babies, she lost almost half her body weight, her feathers got a bit ratty, and she was the best momma you've ever seen. She even trained my best behaved rooster yet.

And I wonder if I had not given her eggs, if she'd have eventually starved herself to death. Also, she growled and puffed at me when sitting on eggs, but she never tried to bite. So that part depends on your individual chicken.

 

[Cryss]

I’m curious about why you wouldn’t just let her go the 3 weeks with fake eggs, rather than trying to break the brood, which just means the hen keeps trying again?

When a chicken is broody they don’t eat or eat very little. They don’t drink. They are concentrating on raising healthy babies in spite of their own health. They don’t lay eggs so every time they go broody you get no eggs. When chicks don’t hatch they keep sitting anyway and starve to death. Chicks hatch normally in time for mama to get back to thinking about her own needs. Why allow them to go through sacrificing their own health without babies to show for it? It serves no purpose for them. It’s not helpful nor healthy. Breaking doesn’t compromise their health and they happily go back to life in the flock after just a few days.

 

[Attila the Hen]

If you have a rooster let her hatch some chicks. I recently started breaking broodies using a frozen pad. I removed the eggs and put it in under a tiny bit of bedding. It has been incredibly easy. I felt it was cruel but it is so fast and effective I’ll keep doing it. I have too many chickens and it’s winter now. I guess in the spring I’ll need a half dozen pads.

 

[aart]

When a chicken is broody they don’t eat or eat very little. They don’t drink.

Most will eat and drink, pretty rare for them to actually starve to death.....
.....but they definitely can lose condition, and are susceptible to external parasites infestations.