Not laying yet brooding.

[icecreamkid31]

I have six hens and my only ameraucana lady has stopped laying and started brooding. She is one year old has plenty of yard to roam yet she has been staying in the coop keeping the other eggs warm. I haven't seen her cute green eggs in about 4 days. She typically lays every other day. I feed them a 20% protein lay mash with calcium. No rooster. Is she okay? Should I worry or take action?

 

[sourland]

Just as you don't need a rooster for hens to lay eggs, you don't need a rooster for hens to go broody. Broody hens stop laying eggs. There are several on site threads about 'breaking' broody hens. An on site search on 'breaking broody hens' should help you locate these threads.

 

[azygous]

I would take action. Get a cage or crate with an open mesh bottom and install her in it with some food and water. Place the cage out in the run or yard so she's in the middle of as much activity going on as possible.

The objective is to cool her body down to help disperse the hormones while discouraging her from zoning out in a dark, quiet environment. This helps to get her back to normal within three days.

I like to let my broody out of her cage several times a day to remind her of how nice it is to be normal, but you need to watch her and grab her when she makes a beeline back to a nest.

The longest it ever took me was ten days to break a broody, but the normal is three days.