Sick Chicken??? I'm Not Sure! Please HELP!

[mbelanger]

Hello all - we have a small flock (7 hens) who are about a year old. These are our first chickens ever. Fortunately we've had a really good year with all seven chicks growing into healthy layers....until....

Just the other day one of our hens wouldn't come out of a nesting box all day, wouldn't go out in the run, etc. Since yesterday she's been sitting on the floor in a corner of the coop. I sort of nudged her aside today (she was not happy about it) and there were five eggs (??) under her. She seems like she's collecting the eggs and nesting on top of all of them??

I guess I'm mostly concerned and confused because she's never done anything like this before, and she' usually a very social bird. But for the last couple of days she wants nothing to do with moving from that spot.

Oh, and I took the eggs out from under her and she sort of (sadly) starting clucking around and looking in the nesting boxes for them.

Oh, and one more thing...it seems (but this might just be my paranoia) that her eggs are coming out with thinner shells than I'm used to.

Not sure if she's sick or just exhibiting some bizarre new behavior! But I don't know what to do!

Any advice?

 

[ZepChick]

it sounds like she is broody. if you collect the eggs daily she won't go broody. she is tryiong to hatch her "babies", and a broody hen doesn't leave her spot on the eggs

 

[MikasGirl]

She is broody. Just take her eggs away and such..Good luck!!!!

 

[BFeathered]

I definitely no expert, but it sounds as if she's gone broody to me. Make sure she's getting something to eat and drink, even if you have to bring it to her. And you might want to candle those eggs to see if they're fertile or not ( do you even have a rooster?). I'll let the true experts on here have the floor now... Good luck!

 

[mbelanger]

Thanks all for the rapid replies! If that turns out to be it we will be very relieved! To be honest I have been a little lazy the last couple of months and have been forgetting to get the eggs some days...maybe I pushed her over the limit?

I just ran out there before i go to bed (she is still in the corner) but put some water and food right up next to her...hopefully she will at least get a bite to eat. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[mbelanger]

oh, and by the way, no we don't have a rooster in there!

 

[lalaland]

You can help get her out of the broody state by putting her out with the other hens every chance you get, and trying to keep her out of the nesting area. Pick her up off the nest and move her! Repeat. Repeat. Yup, repeat again. Can take a week or so to get her out of the broody state.

Be sure to get those eggs as frequently as you can = seems like hens are more likely to go broody when there are eggs in the nest for more than a few days.

Some breeds go broody without eggs, and will sit on ANYTHING including empty nests.

If you are worried about thin eggs, make sure they have access to oyster shell or calcium - some people collect their eggshells, toast them and crumble them up and offer them back to the hens. Also, as spring arrives and they have access to greens, they will get some calcium from those as well.

 

[mbelanger]

Thanks again for all the help. It seems like it's helping. We kept snagging the eggs today and sort of nudged her out of the coop and into the run today and she was cool...even roosted on a bar outside for a while. She's still being broody but we'll keep it up and hopefully she's going to settle back down!

Thanks.