Orpington problems

[JACspivey]

I have a one year old Buff Orpington that has been in the laying box for about five days. She has laid in these past five days. when I pull her off and put her in the yard she'll scratch around but when the others come around she puffs up and gets defensive. She will not go to roost. She is eating and drinking and takes her dirt bath when I take her out and physically put her in the sand. This is not her personality. She's always been our social butterfly, but now she's a hermit. Is there anything I should be doing or just let her do her thing?

 

[CookieChicken18]

She doesn't willingly leave the nest box often? If so I would say she's gone broody. It's when a hen's body becomes overrun with hormones and makes them want to be a mother, even if her eggs aren't fertilized. She will probably sit on those eggs until they hatch. There are a lot of things online on what you can do snap her out of it.

 

[coach723]

Sounds like she has gone broody. You can either let her sit on eggs to hatch, or break her from it.
You can also feel on the bottom of her breast, where the eggs would be sitting, and if there is a bare spot, or thin spot, she's likely broody.
When she's sitting it will feel very warm and humid there.
I usually use a wire crate, I put it in my enclosed run, so she can still see and be seen. I turn it upside down, as the top wires are closer together than the bottom wires, and raise it up on a couple of boards. No bedding of any kind. Her own food and water. That way she can't 'sit'. As long as she can sit she will try to nest. I cover in a blanket at night. My broody's take several days to a week to break in general.
Once she stops fluffing up like a turkey and squawking like a pterodactyl when I approach, I try letting her out. Check the nest boxes in an hour or so, if she's back in there, I check again in a bit and if she's still in there she goes back in the crate for a day or two more, and we try again.

 

[JACspivey]

That's what I was hoping. I wasn't 100% sure though. I just didn't want to open the coop one day and find a dead chicken.

 

[JACspivey]

I don't have a rooster and I pull eggs everyday. her breast feathers do feel thinner. Coach723, you described Liily to a tee! Thanks guys! I have an old wire dog crate i'll try to break her in. good stuff. I feel better about our baby