New to chickens and BYC.

[SEGilmore]

Hello all, My name is Sheryl. I have recently been taking care of a small flock of chickens on our farm for a little over a year now. Obviously still a "chick" to most that are here. I was reading your post about how to help a egg bound hen. Which is how I found BYC. I have a Plymouth Barred Rock hen named Gretyl that for some reason is acting like she is brooding but there are NO eggs under her. She has been like this for almost a week now and I'm out of ideas as to what may be wrong.
Please if anyone can help give me something to try let me know.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hello all, My name is Sheryl. I have recently been taking care of a small flock of chickens on our farm for a little over a year now. Obviously still a "chick" to most that are here. I was reading your post about how to help a egg bound hen. Which is how I found BYC. I have a Plymouth Barred Rock hen named Gretyl that for some reason is acting like she is brooding but there are NO eggs under her. She has been like this for almost a week now and I'm out of ideas as to what may be wrong.
Please if anyone can help give me something to try let me know

Welcome to BYC, Sheryl! A broody hen will brood an empty nest, a nest full of golf balls, a pile or rocks or eggs -- it doesn't matter to her whether there is anything to hatch or not, her hormones drive her to nest down and set. If you do not have eggs to give her or do not wish to have her hatch chicks you can "break" the broodiness out of her. There are several ways people will do this, you can search "break a broody" - but I prefer the "broody buster" which is a wire cage, elevated, with no bedding.

 

[nchls school]

[COLOR=008000]Hello all, My name is Sheryl. I have recently been taking care of a small flock of chickens on our farm for a little over a year now. Obviously still a "chick" to most that are here. I was reading your post about how to help a egg bound hen. Which is how I found BYC. I have a Plymouth Barred Rock hen named Gretyl that for some reason is acting like she is brooding but there are NO eggs under her. She has been like this for almost a week now and I'm out of ideas as to what may be wrong.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000] Please if anyone can help give me something to try let me know.[/COLOR]

Hello Sheryl. Welcome to BYC. Nothing is wrong-many hens will brood an empty nest. If you want chicks give the hen some fertile eggs to hatch and raise. If not, there are ways to break broodiness.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

The advice above is great to follow.

 

[drumstick diva]

If you could get some fertile eggs to put under her, I think you would really enjoy your hen brooding/hatching them and teaching them about the chicken world. What breed is your hen?

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

I also have a hen that gets broody and will sit on an empty nest. I generally collect eggs 2-4 times per day, so generally there are never any eggs for her to sit on. Those hormones just kick in and she ends up broody. You will most likely either want to get your hen some fertilized eggs to sit on or try sneaking a few day old chicks under her at night. However, if you do not want anymore chicks, you will need to break her broodiness, or her health may be compromised since broody hens tend to neglect their own needs so they can remain on the nest. If you chose to break her ofher broodiness, just use the search bar above to search that topic.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!