Why won’t my chicken leave the nest box?

[Tammyoeo]

I have a Golden Comet that just doesn’t want to leave the nest box. She is an everyday egg layer. She has had some rather LARGE, double yolk eggs a few months ago, but lately they have just been nicely large. Well it’s REALLY HOT here in Arizona right now and I expect the girls production to halt, but that chicken is in her nest box and doesn’t want to leave. I have taken her out of the nest box every few hours and put her into one of the wading pools to cool her down and to drink. This has been going on for several days now. I finally did see her out on her own yesterday morning, but she went straight back to her nest box a few minutes later. Now I have a White Austra that thinks that is a great idea and has joined her in the nest box above. I have seen the White Austra out on her own several times at least, but is this normal? They are obviously hot and would be so much better in the run, but these two crazy chickens are determined to sit in their boxes in the coop. My coops are open front and half the sides are open. They have a Run that is completely shaded and small wading pools to try to stay cool. I go out every few hours to change out their water and make sure those two are coming out, but just not sure why they are doing this? There is a free standing 3-nesting boxes in the run that many of the girls like to use, but not the two.
Below is what their coops look like (8x4x4) with 4 nest boxes. I have three of these coops with a shaded run that is 16 feet x 18 feet x 6ft high built between them. There are 23 hens total, no rooster. They eat 15% protein chicken feed, I offer multigrain scratch, black oil sunflower seeds, black soldier fly grub, fresh spinach, oyster shell and grit available. They get scraps for treats but I try to keep it too a minimum now. I worried that too many scraps were being consumed, so dialed back a couple of months ago. I gave some frozen veggies and fresh strawberries to keep them hydrated. (Just trying to answer as many questions as I can think of). Any idea? I would think she was egg bound, but this has been going on for over a week? She isn’t a broody girl either.

 

[Yardmom]

Why do you say not broody? Is she staying on the nest at night? You do not need a rooster for hens to go broody, and even if a hen is high production it can still go broody.

 

[Tammyoeo]

Why do you say not broody? Is she staying on the nest at night? You do not need a rooster for hens to go broody, and even if a hen is high production it can still go broody.

I suppose so, it just seemed odd for her. She is usually the first one in and out of the nest box. But yes, she is staying in at night too. - but I didn’t think much of that because LOTS of my chickens do sleep in the nest boxes (they sometimes pile in together) lol

 

[neo71665]

Broody hen

 

[Tammyoeo]

Broody hen

Really? You think so as well? Okay, so how long does that usually go on? I don’t ever leave eggs in the boxes- I grab them as quickly as I am able. Is there anything I should/can do?

 

[BDutch]

If she is healthy , she must be broody.
Sick chickens can stay in nest boxes too.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yup. Hens are not broody until they are. Sounds like yours is. Although .... this is a bit unusual for a production breed like a Golden Comet, isn't it, BYC?

 

[BDutch]

Really? You think so as well? Okay, so how long does that usually go on? I don’t ever leave eggs in the boxes- I grab them as quickly as I am able. Is there anything I should/can do?

If this girls broodiness is easy to break, make sure she has no acces to this specific laying nest anymore. Put her on the roost when its almost dark. And make sure she spends the night on a roost.

If she’s hard to break you need a wired cage in which you give her food and water and put this cage on a wel ventilated spot. With air under the cage.

But do check on mites or something that can cause health issues / fatigue too.

 

[NatJ]

Really? You think so as well? Okay, so how long does that usually go on? I don’t ever leave eggs in the boxes- I grab them as quickly as I am able. Is there anything I should/can do?

Some hens just go broody, no matter how fast you remove the eggs.

If you just leave her alone, she may stop in a few days (unlikely, but not impossible).

More likely, she will stay broody for more than 3 weeks, but eventually go back to normal on her own. (I once had a hen that stayed broody for 6 weeks before she quit.)

In a few rare cases, a hen stays broody for a long time and does not eat enough and ultimately starves to death.


Or you can break her broodiness.

A common way to do that:
take a wire cage (dog crate or rabbit cage or similar) and put the hen in.
She should be on a wire floor, with no nest or bedding, and raised off the ground so the air can circulate underneath.
Provide food and water, and you can give her a perch to sit on (like a 2" thick board, not something wide enough to try nesting on.)

At first she will pace frantically back and forth trying to get back to her nest, but at some point she will settle down. Leave her in there all day and night for at least 2 days or maybe 3 days, then let her out. If she goes back to the nest, pop her back in the broody pen for another day or two. But if she acts normal, check again at roosting time. If she roosts with the others she's cured, if she tries to sleep in the nest it's back in the pen for another day or two.

Broodiness is a hormonal thing, so the hen cannot just choose to do it or to stop. The broody pen provides a different environment that causes a change in the hen's hormones over the course of a few days. The hen will not feel sad about having her broodiness broken, and she will not be mad at you either.

Edit to add: or you can buy some fertile eggs for her to hatch, or let her sit on fake eggs for 3 weeks then buy chicks to slip under her. Hens will often adopt chicks at that point, although of course there are a few that refuse.

If you decide to get her fertile eggs or let her sit and get chicks, I suggest moving her to a place that will be safe to raise chicks BEFORE you give her the eggs or buy the chicks. Some hens will quit being broody when you move them, and it would be really frustrating to have that happen at the end of the sitting period!

 

[Tammyoeo]

Some hens just go broody, no matter how fast you remove the eggs.

If you just leave her alone, she may stop in a few days (unlikely, but not impossible).

More likely, she will stay broody for more than 3 weeks, but eventually go back to normal on her own. (I once had a hen that stayed broody for 6 weeks before she quit.)

In a few rare cases, a hen stays broody for a long time and does not eat enough and ultimately starves to death.


Or you can break her broodiness.

A common way to do that:
take a wire cage (dog crate or rabbit cage or similar) and put the hen in.
She should be on a wire floor, with no nest or bedding, and raised off the ground so the air can circulate underneath.
Provide food and water, and you can give her a perch to sit on (like a 2" thick board, not something wide enough to try nesting on.)

At first she will pace frantically back and forth trying to get back to her nest, but at some point she will settle down. Leave her in there all day and night for at least 2 days or maybe 3 days, then let her out. If she goes back to the nest, pop her back in the broody pen for another day or two. But if she acts normal, check again at roosting time. If she roosts with the others she's cured, if she tries to sleep in the nest it's back in the pen for another day or two.

Broodiness is a hormonal thing, so the hen cannot just choose to do it or to stop. The broody pen provides a different environment that causes a change in the hen's hormones over the course of a few days. The hen will not feel sad about having her broodiness broken, and she will not be mad at you either.

Edit to add: or you can buy some fertile eggs for her to hatch, or let her sit on fake eggs for 3 weeks then buy chicks to slip under her. Hens will often adopt chicks at that point, although of course there are a few that refuse.

If you decide to get her fertile eggs or let her sit and get chicks, I suggest moving her to a place that will be safe to raise chicks BEFORE you give her the eggs or buy the chicks. Some hens will quit being broody when you move them, and it would be really frustrating to have that happen at the end of the sitting period!

Okay thanks! I have just the place.! I still have the brooder (110 gallon stock tank) in my “bird room” that I have actually kept one of my chickens in before that I had use as a recovery cage. Will have to give it a try to see if it will break the brooding.