maybe a silly question but...

[birdbrain5]

i have two hens in one of the coops right now, and they both used the same nest box. one of the hens decided to go broody so im letting her do her thing, and sectioned her off so the other hen cant get in and keep laying in there. i gave her a new nest box but she refuses to use it. she keeps poking around the other hens area trying to get in there, so i gave another nest box to see if she would use that one, nope. its been days since shes laid an egg now, and she has two nest boxes and i have bait eggs in them, but she will not use them. ive looked around the coop, no eggs. my question is, can a hen actually hold an egg? lol im affraid if this is possible that shes going to cause problems for herself like laying internally or become eggbound. this may sound silly but its like shes waiting to get in the other nest box to lay but she hasnt for days!

 

[CCourson05]

They can shut it off. It's like a women's cycle. When she is pregnant, no cycle. When a hen is broody, no egg.

 

[Lisa202]

That's weird. Mine would do the same thing when one of my chickens went broody in the favorite nest box. I too had made a cage around her so that the others couldn't disrupt her that last week before hatching, but they all then found a new favorite. I wouldn't think a chicken could hold an egg in though.