Stubborn Hen

[Curry1]

I've got a brown leghorn about 2.5yrs old she's been in the same nest for nearly 72hrs without moving sitting on all the eggs. She's being very aggressive and chatty, won't let me collect the eggs. I'm afraid that all those eggs are bad now. Any thoughts how to get her out? I've tried all her favorites, she wouldn't even budge for strawberries. Are those eggs still ok? Is she thinking that she's going to hatch them?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like she could be broody. You can pull her out and see if she returns. I personally wouldn't eat the eggs, but others would.

 

[GreatBreeder]

You can try putting hatching eggs under her. If you're interested in meat birds it's a good choice, or if you don't want to spend time incubating and brooding chicks.

 

[aart]

I've got a brown leghorn about 2.5yrs old she's been in the same nest for nearly 72hrs without moving sitting on all the eggs. She's being very aggressive and chatty, won't let me collect the eggs. I'm afraid that all those eggs are bad now. Any thoughts how to get her out? I've tried all her favorites, she wouldn't even budge for strawberries. Are those eggs still ok? Is she thinking that she's going to hatch them?

Welcome to BYC!
You'll have to get brave and get her out of there and/or take the eggs.
Long sleeves and gloves might be in order...a calm, confident, and persistent attitude is an absolute necessity for the keeper.
Usually once you handle her a couple times despite her trying to bite you,
she'll calm a bit, realize you're not going to hurt her, and let you do what you need to do.

You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? She may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.
It a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread


If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.
Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.