Any Chicken People here?

OK, I know this is a rabbit board but this section is for 'off topics' so I thought I'd try because I am totally kerfluffled with this hen. I thought she was broody, she acted broody, a real cranky pants, sitting on a 'nest' day in and night out. Got off occasionally but right back on. Thing is that she somehow got out of the coop proper and decided to nest on top of the straw bales I have stacked for convienence. So I move her to the 'hatching' area and put 3 eggs under her thinking if she was broody, I'd put 4 more under her today as I got them. Well, she doesn't like the area and won't sit on the eggs so I let out. She immediately goes to 'her' spot and settles in. So what the hay, I stuck the three eggs under her. She rolled them all out. Why would she do that? Broody or not, my hens don't roll out eggs, they just sit on them, lay theirs then get off. Any insight would be very appreciated.

huh. that's strange, all right. If you want to try to break her of this current round of broodiness, you can put her in a wire floored cage, up off the ground. after a couple of days or so she should forget the urge. AND if it's not broodiness but some illness you'll be able to isolate her and see what she does...either way.

as to rolling out the eggs...was it a proper nest, as in a depression that the eggs could fit in? or was it a bale with eggs on top (that would have been uncomfortable for her and she would have rolled out the offenders). Have you checked to make sure she's not eggbound? That could be causing her to set for long periods...although by now she should be dead, one would think.

I think I'd probably grab hay, set it in a corner for her, plop her on it (or the whole thing in a cage) and keep her in until she either produces something or gives up.

Is there any way that something could have gotten into the henhouse and scared her? snake, rat, etc? She might not want to set where she'd seen a threat..

Good luck!

It's perfectly fine to post about chickens or other critters here in Just for Fun. (I probably should rename this forum... the present name isn't as apt as I thought it would be.)

It sounds to me as though your hen is sort of broody, but not committed. Even committed broodies do not take kindly to a change of location. They are hormone-driven bird-brains when broody and I've seen one sit next to the occupied nest box of its choice on nothing, rather than sit on eggs two feet away in a different box. Rational thought does not enter into it!

I think Ann gave you good advice. Cage her up for a few days, allowing the cool air to get at her underside. A dog crate works well for this. Push a piece of wood through the bars for a roost and hang the works up to let her cool off. She should soon be back to normal. She will likely go broody properly a little later in the season.

Your alternative is to crate her, but put in bedding and those eggs and see if she will take to them. It might work and since you have the eggs already it may be worth a try.

Good luck with her, Marian... and be sure to post an update.

Hey thanks for the quick responses. I don't particularly want to break broodiness, I'd really like to start hatching eggs, well, get the hens to anyways. But what I think you are saying is break her now because she's kind of being may-beish about it and it's basically a lost cause? I've broken broodiness before in the dead of winter. Anntann, she's not egg bound, I've a mortal fear of that and I did check. The eggs were in a nice deep, depression in the bale, very nesty like. She doesn't seem sick, very bright eyed and lively just extremely cranky. Maggie, I didn't know they didn't sometimes don't take kindly to being moved. I moved two last spring and it didn't bother them, beginners luck, I would imagine.

Your advice makes a lot of sense to me so I will bar her in the hatching area and see if she will poop(brood) or get of the pot(nest). So to speak. I was just at a loss because of the egg rolling bit, never seen that before. I will update one way or the other, thank you both again.

Edited to add: About varmits, I know I have a skunk under the coop but it's been there forever and has never bothered the chickens' laying/hatching habits before. I could get a humane trap and move it but I was planning just to block the area where it goes in and out once I'm sure it's out. We have oddles of skunks in the area and I'm very much a live and let live frame of mind with them. I believe they are the main reason why I don't see rats around at all. I know skunks will eat eggs but I have this little Guinea with my flock and I think she intimidates the skunk with her alarm. I've never caught a skunk in the coop.

We live and let live with our predators too, Marian, and really have little problem with them... except with rats. Maybe we should get a skunk! Actually, I'm fairly sure we had a mink in our cellar for awhile this winter... the rats are gone! :bouncy: And since I finally found where they were getting in, I'm hoping to keep them out.

I would think your hen is just being ornery... May as well give her another chance to brood those eggs. It is odd that she rolled them away like that... but maybe she thinks they are not the right ones. Broodies are very odd creatures!

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of rats, either. A couple of springs ago there was a mama rat using my rabbit manure pile for a home complete with babies. That was my inspiration for starting my vermiculture project.

My brody chicken is no longer. I put her in the hatching area and she was just miserable, clucking and running around, very distressed. I think she was upsetting everybody else too, so I let her out. But I put a box, a bag and a small ladder on top of the straw bales where she was sitting. Once she couldn't get up there, she decided to stop being Frankin-chicken become her usual happy self. It took a bit, though; she tried so hard to get back on those bales! She even managed to knock of the box to get back up there. Once I added the ladder, she gave up.
Hopefully she'll go broody properly soon I have a lady who sells Delaware fertile eggs and I'd love to add a few of those to my flock.

Glad she's back to normal.

Broody hens are so strange... Talk about hormone-driven!