Does this hen sound broody to you?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

I've posted before about the fact that I'm not getting many eggs - one of my hybrids lays every day, another only sometimes, and my Light Sussex doesn't seem to be laying at all, or only one or two a week.
She spends a long time sitting on the nest box even when there aren't any eggs in it And she pecks me when I try to shoo her off.

She still comes out to eat, drink etc.

I check for eggs several times a day.

So, d'you reckon she's broody and if so, how long does it normally last?

When she is on the nest are her feathers puffed up? Is she sort of flattened/spread out? And when she goes poo is it big/fluffy? If she is broody, she will get off to poo or eat but otherwise she will be hard to move and when you pick her up she may well stay in the nesting position. She may also make little contented chuckling noises to herself. If so, you need to stop her getting onto the nest, possibly put her in a separate pen alongside her normal hen house, for a few days. Keep her outside in the day and at night let her in with no nest box, just a low perch and no bedding. You can also dunk her bottom half in cold water a few times. She will get over it after a few days. Hope this helps.

thanks Buggered.
she is definitely sitting in a flattened way which is different from how she used to sit to lay.
will shut her out of the Eglu during the day and maybe try the cold water thing! many thanks for your suggestions.

She sounds broody - has she plucked her chest feathers out?
I put mine in a broody cage - inverted cat box (with wire top) over a couple of bricks, with water/food cups clipped in. 24 hours in the slammer usually does the trick! I leave the broody cage in a secure run so that she can see her flockmates and is sheltered from foxes and the weather.

Sounds broody to me Agree with bramblebooks. Broodies get at least 24 hours in the cage here.

right, so I should make a broody cage then! Would a cardboard box on its side with chicken wire over the front do the job do you think?

One of mine is broody and the funny thing is, she lets the other hens lay in her 'nest' and she sits on all of them.
20 at the last count!

Do you think I could fool her into hatching out duck eggs?

mine only have the one nest because I just have the 3 hens in an Eglu. The Sussex sits on the other ones' eggs and for a while I thought she was laying them - I was giving her credit for the smaller Gingernut Ranger's eggs until I actually saw the ranger go in and come out and realised I'd been wrong about whose eggs were which.

Can you borrow a puppy crate? The idea is to have the wire under her so she cools her underneath and so that it's not comfy like a nest. You may have to give puppy crate some shelter though.

ah I see.
right, have been googling broodiness - oh dear, wish I had sussed this out earlier!
When she kept going back in the Eglu I thought she was going in there to try and lay an egg....

I've done what someone on the Omlet site suggested and put the smaller set of bars from the Eglu over the nest box so at least she can't sleep there tonight, then I can remove it tomorrow morning so the other two can lay.
I can see from the house what they're up to do I can rush out and move her if she tries to sit down. And I'll see if I can borrow a cage from one of the neighbours - nextdoor have a dog.

Good luck! Make sure you put her somewhere foxproof - may be raise the box on bricks do she gets her nethers cooled!

thanks!