sitting while molting

[chickeylady]

I have 1 blue laced red wyandotte that is starting to molt. She is one of the big nesting boxes and she's been in there for 3 days now. I thought something was wrong with her so the first day I picked her up(she didn't like that 1 bit) and there were 8 eggs under her. They are "somewhat likely" to sit. Is it normal to want to sit when they are molting. She's the only one out of 28 hens!

 

[Yardmom]

Is she molting or clearing underneath for a brood patch?

 

[JedJackson]

Hens will lose some of their belly feathers so that they can make better contact with the eggs to heat them. So that may be what is happening.

If she is undergoing a heavy molt and losing feathers all over, then it is unlikely that she will set on eggs. You could wait and see what happens, or you could just put the eggs in the fridge and give her some other ones if she does decide to set.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Have you noticed her getting picked on at all? Is she getting out to eat and drink?

 

[chickeylady]

Is she molting or clearing underneath for a brood patch?

she's all "fluffy"on her back and when I try to get eggs from underneath she becomes really agitated and pecks me! I'm not sure she evens comes out to eat or get water. Everytime I go in there she's in the same nesting box. Could there be something wrong with her. All the other hens her age are acting normal.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Do you have a dog crate you could separate her in with food and water?

 

[chickeylady]

Do you have a dog crate you could separate her in with food and water?

as a matter of fact I do thanks!

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

as a matter of fact I do thanks!

Just make sure you keep her somewhere predator proof.

 

[aart]

I have 1 blue laced red wyandotte that is starting to molt.

Are you sure she's molting?
Where are you located in the wide world?

and there were 8 eggs under her.

Did you collect the eggs?

She sounds broody to me.
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.