My hen is sleeping& laying in her Nest tonight, Please help!

[moms3cuties]

My Americana (named Marshmallow) who's almost 12 months old went to bed in her nest where she lays her eggs!! Yesterday afternoon I noticed her laying in the nest, so I could not collect the eggs. This afternoon she ate some shell that she may have broke and brought it out of her nest and she & the other chickens ate some of it too. My concern is this, I called a friend I checked her Vent underneath it and its empty I don't feel any egg that is waiting to hatch. Why is she laying in there at night time? Please help me, her Vent doesn't seem to be dirty at this time. But I will take a flashlight and get a closer look.

 

[Judy]

Sometimes, a hen just decides to sleep in a nest instead of on the roost for no particular reason that you can see. When a hen goes broody, she will stay on a nest 24/7 except for (normally) one outing a day to eat, drink and poop. She may or may not have eggs under her for this to happen; it is a hormonal change. Typically, she will also become more hostile to people, squawking and pecking if you try to move her, even if she would usually let you. Also, if you do lift her out of the nest and set her down, she may tend to "flatten ut" on the ground, rather than walk around. She might also return to the wrong nest. I would watch her for a day or two to see if this is what is happening with her.

Most any chicken who encounters a broken egg, or accidentally breaks an egg, will eat it. Eggs don't hatch inside a chicken; she lays them and then incubates them for 21 days for them to hatch.

You will find a wealth of basic information about chickens in our Learning Center, above.

 

[moms3cuties]

thank you very much for your reply. I have been reading since probably about 1030 PM and now bout 3:41 a.m.

Would she be broody even if I have no rooster?

 

[Judy]

Yes. There doesn't even have to be any eggs. Hormones do what they do, whether it makes sense or not, it seems.

 

[Michael Apple]

Egg shells that are thin will break easily and can make hens curious enough to eat them. This begins a very bad habit of egg breaking/eating. I rarely had egg shell problems except with one flock. For some reason, they avoided oyster shell coarse or finely ground. Supplementing water with calcium gluconate http://www.durvet.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=21:calcium-gluconate-23 at 1 tablespoon per gallon of water in addition to a good vitamin powder labeled for poultry can help improve egg shell quality, and lessen the chances of egg binding. I'd start at 5 day treatment and see how it goes, and then lessen it to maybe 2-3 days a week as needed. Especially if hens are moulting, so much nutrients are utilized to grow new feathers, and supplementation prevents stress and deficiencies.

Another problem with egg eating is that raw eggs contain a protein called Avidin. Avidin inactivates the vitamin, biotin. So eating raw eggs causes a deficiency which none of us want our birds bearing the burden of.

 

[moms3cuties]

thank you both so much for the info!

Update:

I am looking for a cage to put her in with the clear floor. It seems her hormones have gotten the best of her and I will see about adding calcium to water and providing the calcium in via the oster shells in another dish.

My 4 Americanas are free range, no coup for them.

Is the oleanders which I have,, maybe 12 more in my backyard previously planted 30 years ago, ( not by me, as I believe in doing organic fruits and vegetable scraps and yogurt for my chickens, and organic feed as well.)..."dangerous", for them to hide under for shade? I don't think they eat any of the flowers and I tried to trim those off as much as possible. I have dug up three huge oleanders that we're about 30 feet tall and I started putting in sugarcane and bamboo.

 

[moms3cuties]

How long does this type of hen be "Broody," for??? ( Americana/ EE)

any links on this?

 

[Judy]

Broodiness isn't really about breed, but about their breeding, how they have been bred. EE's are a hatchery product, and hatcheries select for less broodiness, since this means more eggs. It's quite unpredictable in an individual bird how successful this was. I have had a couple of persistently broody EE's who made good mamas.

I think in most cases, a broody gives up after maybe 5 or 6 weeks . They certainly don't have a 21 day "clock" to tell them it's time to quit, unfortunately. I've had hens who stayed broody for 4 or 5 months. People recommend trying to break them with a cage because they do lose some weight and muscle tone while broody, not to mention are prone to lice'mites, and probably some other health problems. Whatever else I do, I always removed a broody from her nest a couple of times a day and prodded her til she moved about, ate and drank, and got a little exercise.

 

[moms3cuties]

Great! Thanks for info!

I've picked her up out of her nest of ceramic eggs several times a day and gone after my other gens eggs as she would move them from the other grass nest to hers.

UPDATE-
I bought 2, one-day old Marin chicks & took some almost a complete green egg shell pieces and slid out a stole the last ceramic egg and replaced it for the 2 chicks wrapped in a large broken green shell. 6 minutes later she left her nest. She checked on them a few times. She seemed puzzled as to why the eggs were hatched/gone but made a final attempt to lay on the nest at dusk, which I carefully placed underneath her body/wings again. (they had been following her around the yard I was amazed.) After a few minutes she left her nest and flew up to the tree for bed. I HOPE she thinks it's time to get back to laying eggs!

 

[moms3cuties]

Great! Thanks for info!

I've picked her up out of her nest of ceramic eggs several times a day and gone after my other gens eggs as she would move them from the other grass nest to hers.

UPDATE-
I bought 2, one-day old Marin chicks & took some almost a complete green egg shell pieces and slid out a stole the last ceramic egg and replaced it for the 2 chicks wrapped in a large broken green shell. 6 minutes later she left her nest. She checked on them a few times. She seemed puzzled as to why the eggs were hatched/gone but made a final attempt to lay on the nest at dusk, which I carefully placed underneath her body/wings again. (they had been following her around the yard I was amazed.) After a few minutes she left her nest and flew up to the tree for bed. I HOPE she thinks it's time to get back to laying eggs!

LATEST UPDATE-I put to Marlon chicks underneath her wrapped in some of her green shells after I pulled out the ceramic quickly and shoved the two chicks back under her and she now is roosting in the tree and its not laying in the nest anymore, hooray! !!!! WOW CLOSE CALL