Hen taking refuge in nest - not broody! (pics)

[Candyman]

Hello everyone, some of you may know me as I posted a thread about importing chicks a few 2-3 months back. Then I ended up buying local chicken which are mixed breeds over a period of time, these are called Desi chicken here. Here are the pictures (I know the picture quality sux but it is a 2MP Nokia camera).




The problem is with this white hen in this picture. She was the most dominant one till I brought in a rooster.

You like my double story chicken coop
And there she is, hiding in here nest box.


So after I brought in the rooster, she lost here dominance and was kinda threatening the rooster too at first, but after some hours she got into this nest box where she lays (started laying 20 days ago) and now she does not come out, only one time a day for food, today was the third day like that. And she does not let the rooster fertilize here eggs. And she is not broody, I can tell as we have been keeping chicken since I was little and we had hatched many batched of chicks from broody hens.
So.... anyone have had this kind of experience? what should I do now. I am worried about his stubborn hen.
any advice is appreciated

 

[NovaAman]

Well, even if her eggs are not fertile, doesn't mean she ain't broody. Kick her out of the nestbox and see what happens. Maybe the roo is aggressive to her...

 

[devora]

And she is not broody, I can tell as we have been keeping chicken since I was little and we had hatched many batched of chicks from broody hens.

Explain the part where she sits on the nest but she's not broody?

 

[Candyman]

she is not broody as she does not fatten up when approached by me, nor does she make that fat broody sound or warn me when approached. And all these picture were taken today, and you can see her when she's posing for the camera, she looks normal.

 

[Candyman]

is there anything as pre-broody? where she doesn't show the symptoms of broody but it is.... she also laid an egg yesterday, missed today, the other hen who was laying stopped laying since the rooster arrived (3 days), yet she is the closest to rooster now.... the other seven hens did not lay and they stay away from the rooster. Chicken chemistry ain?

 

[devora]

I've had many a bird go broody and not "fatten up." I've got a lovely Cuckoo Maran that is as broody as can be right now yet never utters a peep.

Eggs? Well, if she's at the beginning of a brood she may have been "Pre." I like that idea, "pre-broody"!

 

[Candyman]

Well then maybe she is. Today I was feeding them scraps and she came out of the nest again... and then she started dust bathing isn't it a little odd for a broody?
Another thing, I came across your (Devora's) thread "Virgin Hens?" https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/636553/virgin-hens-what-if-girls-dont-comply and I was thinking can it be something of that series....? I mean she does not let the Rooster mate with hen and maybe that is why she is taking refuge... and Roosters don't try to mate with a broody do they?

 

[devora]

"Bird hides from randy roo! News at 11!"

Well, I'm gonna go w/ broody even tho it isn't as titillating.

 

[arcy liger]

devora are you from pk. i'm too.i love desi and they go broody without sounds and puf

 

[Candyman]

Arcy, Devora is from CA, USA... but I'm from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. and yepp, love 'em