Is she broody or sick?

[fiddledeedee]

Hi Everyone

I'm a bit worried about one of my chooks. She's about a year old now and had been the most consistant layer of my three girls. Lately she has been refusing to get out of the nesting box - even when I open the coop door so that they can walk the yard for a couple of hours each day (usually they are scrambling to get out there and eat the grass). I thought perhaps she might be broody, but she isn't at all agressive towards me. It has been extremely hot here for the last few days and I've been allowing them the run of the yard for the entire day to escape the heat but unless I pick her up and close the coop door she won't leave the nesting box. When I put her out on the grass she just sits there for quite a while before eventually moving off. When I put them back in the coop at the end of the day she returns to the nesting box again.

I thought that interrupting her for the 8 or 9 hours that she's out of the nest would stop her, but it seems to have no effect at all - she's either very determined or sick. This has been going on for about 4 days now.

She seems to be ok apart from the strange behaviour, apart from seeming uber-calm, but I am worried that she will suffer from the heat because she doesn't seem to get off even to drink. Egg production has dwindled to about one per day whereas I always got three previously (one per chook).

Any advice would be gratefully recieved.

 

[sfw2]

It does sound a lot like broody behavior. What breed is she?

 

[fiddledeedee]

She's an Australorp Isa-Brown hybrid. The woman I bought them from told me that they don't usually go broody, which is why I'm a bit worried that she might me sick. She is the largest chook and the first to lay of the three I bought.