Will a hen go broody...

[chicksinthemachine]

outside of the hen house? I am asking because my cochin hen is MIA and she never goes far from the house so my concern is she is gone to chicken heaven but my DH has higher hopes than I and thinks she gone off broody.

 

[shelleyd2008]

If the chickens are free range, chances are she is probably brooding somewhere. Does she usually lay in the hen house, or outside? If she usually lays inside, I would have to wonder. But she might have found someone else's nest to set on.

 

[chicksinthemachine]

She lays in the nest boxes.