My chickens are acting VERY odd

[thunderbug]

I have three little urban hens and they are fantastic. They have a nice little run, a very nice coop with 2 nests and lots of love from us!

These are bantum hens and we were ready for broody behavior. Usually it would be only one hen and it would last a week or so and be done.

Now, two are broody (we think) but they sit on the thirds egg. Here is the odd part- they also sit on each other! they do this even when there is no egg. The little one buries herself under the bigger one until she is being sat on. She even does this in the run when I pick them up out of the nest and lock up the coop during the day. The big one seems very protective, often puffing up and covering the little one with her wing. It is SO weird!

We have been dealing with this for 3 weeks and it feels like they won't ever lay again! Does anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks!!

 

[Pyxis]

Yep, I've heard of hens brooding together before! It's pretty normal. If you want to break them from being broody, and you've tried other things (it seems like you have, since you've been putting them out of the coop etc) and nothing's working, try this:

Put them in a cage with a wire bottom, no bedding, and prop it up above the ground. This is to get air flowing under them. Leave them there, of course in a place out of the sun and rain. You can put food and water in there. After a while, they should break. The air underneath them seems to do the trick. I would do it to each one separately. If they're really determined broodies, it could take a few days. I heard of one determined bird that required a week long stay in the 'broody breaker cage' - twice! So don't give up, eventually they will break!

Oh, and hatching eggs requires at least three weeks, and most birds will go longer than that in a kind of 'just in case' type deal, so one week is definitely not as long as they would go! Usually you're looking at 3-4 minimum if you don't break them.

 

[thunderbug]

Should I leave them in the cage overnight outside of the coop?

 

[Pyxis]

You could do it in the coop, if you have room. They just need to have air flow under them, so if you move them into the coop at night still in the cage propped off the floor that would probably be fine. Or you could leave them out, but make sure there's no way a predator could get at them.