POL sleep on floor for first time?

[farmerlee]

Hello

My chickens are POL and just got my first few eggs! Not sure who they are from yet. THis afternoon my wife entered our coop and one of the Barred Rocks was nested in the hay with a wing spread. THe BR also did not move away like she usually does , and like the rest of our 7 chickens do when we enter the coop. Tonight when I went out to close up the coop she was still in the same spot on the floor. She has roosted every other night that I know of. It seems too coincidental to have just gotten an egg and her exhibiting this new behavior. Is this normal?? Is it linked? If not, what else could this indicate? Overall where she is sitting is not the best place to lay an egg either and not where I found the first 3. She seemed to be breathing normally, sitting in a natural position, and was not making any weird noises.


Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Wisher1000]

Hello and welcome. This is definately not normal behavior unless she is sick, injured, or broody. I have not had one go broody within a week of starting to lay but I guess it could happen. Check her over real well and make sure there are no physical problems and move her to the roost. If all is well and she makes a beeline back to that spot, I would say you have a wanna be Mom!

 

[farmerlee]

thanks. It's late and dark. I may cause a serious ruckus and stress if I go in there right now.

 

[T-Amy]

no you won't- they're normally in their 'zone' when roosting which is why they're such easy prey to critters who get in the coop at night. I have a few transplants (from other flocks) & every once in a while they nest at night- I go in & they're "with it" enough to where when I move them to the roost, they flap their wings a bit but nestle in safe & sound.

I myself have a hen that was kind of hiding under the shed/coop tonight after a day of wet snow. Knowing if they get a chill, it can lead to big problems, I didn't put her on the roost. Instead, I built a bed of hay & sat her in there; I expect she won't be with us when I check on the girls in the AM. Same thing happened to another hen a few weeks ago so I hope I don't have something going around. I may put a transportable light bulb for cases like this when one of the girls seems "off" & build a little nesting box so they can be warmer.

Good luck to you- if she's broody, they normally don't lay eggs so you will need to decide if she IS broody, do you want to keep her that way so she can 'mother' baby chicks or you can break her of that by removing all the eggs & putting her on the nest. If she gets cranky when you go to move her, I suspect it's broodiness.

 

[farmerlee]

well I went in and got her moving. Didn't want to pick her up though. She seemed fine. This morning, as usual , she was the first one out the door. Her vent area was wet and I noticed an egg in there while she was feeding. I think she is just trying to work through it. She seemed fine otherwise.
Now my other BR has white puss around one of her eyes. Now I'm thinking it her that was sleeping on the ground last night. Ughh...