will a hen go to sleep in middle of egg-laying?

[steveg144]

I'm concerned about Nigella, our austrolorps. She was fine at dinner time last night. When I went out later to lock up, she was up in her box, all flattened out. This seems to be her characteristic posture when she's laying an egg (she's in there for a couple of hours sometimes). So this was right at dark, so I assume she would have gone to sleep shortly thereafter. I go out this morning, and she's STILL in the box. First I thought she was dead, but I touched her back and she made her little sound and lifted her butt a bit (note: she has NEVER let me touch her during daylight before).

So I'm wondering, did she nod off during last night's egglaying and she's just taken up where she left off? or should I be concerned? Any thoughts?

 

[sheila3935]

Sounds like she might be broody. When my BA went broody she had a trance like look on her face and she looked like a chicken blanket with a head sticking up

 

[zippitydooda]

Sounds exactly like what is going on our our coop.... miss broody butt is hogging the nest box. She was like that for almost 2 weeks. I would run her off when the others were free ranging. She preferred to stay inside, but I made her go out. She got over it. Now it is going on with one of the others. No worries. Sounds normal.

 

[kimntep]

Broody! You might have to run her out to make sure she eats, drinks and poops! I had one that I had to run out daily for 3 weeks till she finally got over it.

 

[steveg144]

Thanks for the input, everyone. Yeah, she seems to have sorted herself out. She discovered that Camilla, the other gal, had eaten all the breakfast while she was upstairs wallowing, so she showed up on the deck a half hour ago. We have a rack on the deck right outside my window, with a raised edge that is perfect for perching. So she wandered up same as usual, perched, then did what they do when they're starving (that whole gaping-mouth baby-bird thing, how juvenile!

So I threw down some of her faves on the deck, she had a nosh, and soon she graced me with an enormous BM. Heh, maybe she was just constipated! :-D In any case, she's not foraging, she's staying perched, so brooding sounds more and more like what's going on. Otherwise, she's wide-eyed and fulla pep and vim and vigor. Thanks for putting my mind at rest!