I am guessing this is normal..but..

[papeine]

in my experience with chickens I have learned that almost anything is normal when it comes to chickens... but I gotta ask..
my chickens are laying very irregular..one day I will have 10 eggs, next day 5, then 12..it's all over the place... they get light about 13 hours now. I was getting 8-10 consistently.. now it's all over the board. My chickens are about 10 months old. They get layer mix, and sunflower seeds for a treat every night.... I am guessing you experts will tell me this is normal!!!

and while I am at it.. I have a B.O who I am wondering if she is "broody".. everytime I am in the coop, she's laying on eggs. She does get down to eat.. and doesn't really care if I take the eggs she's laying on...

 

[chickenlover96]

some hens only lay every second day that is the same thing that happens to me

 

[Pinky]

Some hens take days off.
Your BO may be broody. does she act like this when she's not sitting on a nest?

If so you hav a broody for sure

 

[papeine]

I will have to take a closer look at her.. but I am afraid I have a broody hen.. problem is I have no fertilized eggs.. will she get over it?

 

[azygous]

If she's broody, and it sounds as if she is, she will get over it in about three weeks from when she began to nest sit if you don't do anything.

I recently had two go broody, both about the same age as yours, and I put them through broody-breaking treatment, and they were back to normal behavior within three days, and laying again in about a week.

You need to break the broody urge to sit in a warm, dark nest box. To do this, you need a wire - bottomed cage without any bedding. You will need to find a way to get the cage up off the floor so it has only air under it. A fan, set on the low setting, directed to blow air under the broody will hurry the broody-breaking process.

I rigged a make-shift cage out of an open-mesh steal patio table with a resin milk crate clamped to the table top. During the day, I placed the broody in this cage inside the run so she could be with her flock. I'd let her out periodically to eat, drink, and stretch her legs. But as soon as she headed for the coop and a nest box, I'd pop her back into the cage. At night, she slept in the cage in the garage with the fan blowing under her all night. By the start of the third day, both broodies had lost interest in heading for a nest box. It took several more days for them to stop making the broody cluck that sounds like a hiccup.

You can let her sit on the nest, with or without eggs, but she won't eat, will lose a lot of weight, and will be out of sorts until she snaps out of it in about three weeks. It's your call.

 

[azygous]

If she's broody, and it sounds as if she is, she will get over it in about three weeks from when she began to nest sit if you don't do anything.

I recently had two go broody, both about the same age as yours, and I put them through broody-breaking treatment, and they were back to normal behavior within three days, and laying again in about a week.

You need to break the broody urge to sit in a warm, dark nest box. To do this, you need a wire - bottomed cage without any bedding. You will need to find a way to get the cage up off the floor so it has only air under it. A fan, set on the low setting, directed to blow air under the broody will hurry the broody-breaking process.

I rigged a make-shift cage out of an open-mesh steal patio table with a resin milk crate clamped to the table top. During the day, I placed the broody in this cage inside the run so she could be with her flock. I'd let her out periodically to eat, drink, and stretch her legs. But as soon as she headed for the coop and a nest box, I'd pop her back into the cage. At night, she slept in the cage in the garage with the fan blowing under her all night. By the start of the third day, both broodies had lost interest in heading for a nest box. It took several more days for them to stop making the broody cluck that sounds like a hiccup.

You can let her sit on the nest, with or without eggs, but she won't eat, will lose a lot of weight, and will be out of sorts until she snaps out of it in about three weeks. It's your call.