hen sitting too long?

[eggfooyung]

i have 4 hens, no rooster, 2 nesting boxes in coop, girls free-range. the golden-laced wyandotte has been sitting in her nest for 2 days, she puffs up and growls at me when i come near. the other hens have laid only 1 egg in 2 days but are acting normally. is she sick? does she think she's going to hatch eggs? and why might the others not be laying? empathy?

 

[marymac]

sounds like she's gone broody. She wants to be a mama. Since you have no rooster her eggs aren't fertile, but she doesn't care, she wants to be a mom

 

[eggfooyung]

how long will she sit there? will she eventually figure it out? will she be horribly disappointed?

 

[marymac]

I have 2 silkys that sat for about a week and half or so, then gradually gave up. They claim if you put them in a wire bottom cage with nothing in the bottom it breaks them of it, but I have never done that. Mine basically just quit on their own. If you want more chicks, now would be a good time to find some fertile eggs and slip them under her , as she would hatch them for you. On the other hand you could keep taking away any eggs she lays and just try to break her that way.