No more eggs

[aart]

Condition?

they lose weight, muscles get weak from lack of use, etc.

Could I just block off the nesting boxes? I dont have a crate

You could try that, but chances are she'd just hunker down somewhere else.
A crate is better, and a good tool for any chickeneer, might be good time to get one.
The idea is get get them up off the ground with no bedding to cool their bellies off.

 

[Bushastead]

they lose weight, muscles get weak from lack of use, etc.


You could try that, but chances are she'd just hunker down somewhere else.
A crate is better, and a good tool for any chickeneer, might be good time to get one.
The idea is get get them up off the ground with no bedding to cool their bellies off.

Ok, so once we get a crate we let her out into the run. When she runs into the nesting box, put her into the crate. Then after alittle while put her back into the run and repeat the process until she doesn't run back into her nest box?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ok, so once we get a crate we let her out into the run. When she runs into the nesting box, put her into the crate. Then after alittle while put her back into the run and repeat the process until she doesn't run back into her nest box?

No, put her in the crate with food and water and don't let her out until she stops showing some of the broody signs (like the fluffing pancake and the tick tick chirping). If you let her out and she goes back to the nest box, lock her back in the crate for another 24 hrs. and repeat.

For a hen that's caught quickly, it'll take about 3 days to break them. Yours is possibly going to take longer due to the fact that she's sat this long.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@aart is giving you excellent advice. Just take her off the nest and put her right in the dog crate. The crate needs to be be in a sheltered place. That can be the run, as long as she has both food and water in the crate with her and she is sheltered from the elements, so make sure she is not in direct sun and that she cannot get rained on.

 

[Bushastead]

No, put her in the crate with food and water and don't let her out until she stops showing some of the broody signs (like the fluffing pancake and the tick tick chirping). If you let her out and she goes back to the nest box, lock her back in the crate for another 24 hrs. and repeat.

For a hen that's caught quickly, it'll take about 3 days to break them. Yours is possibly going to take longer due to the fact that she's sat this long.

Ohhhh, I see

 

[cluckadoodledoo13]

We have two silkies and 4 or 5 nesting boxes. But they both lay their eggs in the same one which she is now always occupying. But idk if that would make the other stop laying.
Both are healthy. I have not seen anything not normal except for one (olive) spending a whole lot of time in the nesting box and now both not laying for a week or so.

That’s probably why the other isn’t laying then.

 

[Bushastead]

That’s probably why the other isn’t laying then.

Why does that happen?

 

[Eggscaping]

Condition?

By 'losing condition' Aart means her health will suffer because she's not exercising, eating enough, even drinking enough. Think what it would do to you if you simply sat in one chair all day long.

 

[aart]

If they lay in the same nest box and someone’s occupying it then they won’t lay. They usually stick to a routine and use the same one each time.

Ehhh, not really.
An occupied nest doesn't just shut down the egg machine.
They will often lay right in the same nest as the broody or somewhere else that might be hard to find.
I keep one fake egg in each nest as bait, to 'spread the love'.