Smiles Jr.
Garden Addicted
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2010
- Messages
- 1,330
- Reaction score
- 575
- Points
- 267
- Location
- PlayStation Farm, Rural Indiana
I feel like a fool posting this because for many years we have had from 20 to 40 chickens and most of the time they were free ranged. Chickens were always just chickens. They were not pets. Now that I'm getting older we have allowed our flock to dwindle to 6 to 8 hens. And once in a while a rooster. But now that I have so few chickens I'm starting to get a little bit attached to them. I actually have feelings for them. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.
One one-year-old hen has been staying on the nest now for over a week. She has stopped laying entirely. She seems to be OK but when I open the nesting box to retrieve eggs each day she fluffs up her feathers and sticks her rear end up in the air. She also makes soft clucks and purrs while she's doing this. I have given her a thorough inspection twice now and I cannot see anything wrong. I'm sure she has not molted yet so maybe this is what she's doing but she has me worried as I have never seen a hen do this before. Could she just be getting broody? We do not have a roo at this time so none of our eggs are fertilized. Getting broody ain't gonna do her any good.
If she is really sick and infectious I wouldn't hesitate to chop her head off and bury her out in the field but I don't know. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.
One one-year-old hen has been staying on the nest now for over a week. She has stopped laying entirely. She seems to be OK but when I open the nesting box to retrieve eggs each day she fluffs up her feathers and sticks her rear end up in the air. She also makes soft clucks and purrs while she's doing this. I have given her a thorough inspection twice now and I cannot see anything wrong. I'm sure she has not molted yet so maybe this is what she's doing but she has me worried as I have never seen a hen do this before. Could she just be getting broody? We do not have a roo at this time so none of our eggs are fertilized. Getting broody ain't gonna do her any good.
If she is really sick and infectious I wouldn't hesitate to chop her head off and bury her out in the field but I don't know. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.