is this what broody is?

[Aunt Mildred]

Aunt Inez is just shy of a year old. She's been laying for the past two months or so, and then the day before yesterday she started acting funny. She started sleeping at night in the nest box, not on the perch. Also, she spends all day in the nest box. When I open the door to check on her, she's perfectly still, and then screeches at me really loudly. She has been getting out briefly in the morning to eat some. Is this what being "broody" means? We don't have a rooster, so she's not sitting on fertilized eggs. If she is broody, will she keep laying eggs? If not, how long until she starts laying again? Is she getting enough fresh air/nutrition if she's spending the majority of the day in her nest box? Is there anything we can do to help her? If this isn't being broody, do you know what else might be wrong with her? Thanks!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yes, you have a broody.

You either need to get some fertile eggs for her to hatch or break her of being broody. Search "breaking a broody" and you'll find the posts explaining how to do it.

ETA: Once she lays enough for her "clutch", she will quit laying eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sure sounds like she is boody. In my opinion, the best thing you can do for her is to break her if you are not going to give her fertile eggs to hatch. Being broody is hard on her. She can survive, but she will not thrive.

The best way to break her is to put her in a cage with a wire bottom so the cool air can hit her on the underside. Give her food and water but nothing that looks like a nest or nesting material. After two or three days, she should be broken, but if she goes back to the nest, put her back in the cage for a couple of more days.

She will not lay eggs while broody.

 

[HEChicken]

A third option is to let her sit on non-fertile eggs for 3 weeks, and then obtain some day-old chicks from your feed store, and put them under her while she sleeps at night. There is a chance she will know and reject the chicks but more than likely, she will think she hatched them and be ever so proud of her accomplishment.