Help with hen please

hiya i have a buff orpington hen for about a year now, the last two weeks she wont come out of the coop i think shes trying to hatch her eggs, but know this breed doesnt get broody.

about 2 months ago i had a cockeral was told it was a hen so not sure if this has made her broody or not. anyway i no longer have the cockeral bu yesterday i picked her out of her coop and it seemed as if she was drunk she couldnt stand and kept loosing her balance. i have just gone to her coop now and she was in again so i took her out she seemed ok ate and drank but shes gone back in her coop after ten mins.

also im not getting any eggs of my other 3 hens not sure if she eating their eggs or they just wont lay coz she is in the coop.

can anyone help me let me know what i should do please

thanks (im new to keeping chickens so dont know if this is normal or not)

If she is broody you can snap her out of it by putting her in a cage with food and water and a perch and no bedding for 3-4 days. You can put the cage next to her friends so she is not lonely. It sounds really cruel but it really does work. I think the theory is it keeps their undercarriage cool and that's what snaps them out of it.

hiya thanks for the reply do you know how long do they remain broody if i dont cage her?? also are my other hens ment to stop laying?

thanks

I bought my chickens last year and the first time I had a broody one I didn't realise and after a week of her staying in the house, I thought she must be ill. She lost quite a lot of weight in that week, and was showing no signs of giving up. I sought advice on a poultry forum and was advised about the cage. I actually use a dog crate with a perch in it and a tarpaulin over the top at night. I don't know why the others have stopped laying...perhaps try a poultry forum yourself?

If she is REALLY broody, it will be indefinite. I have never had to cage a broody to knock them off - I just keep chucking them off and taking eggs away.

The other chickens aren't laying to her, are they? Have you checked how many eggs are under her?

Helen

I do the same as Helen. If any of ours get broody (assuming we don't want any chicks of course!) I just take the hen off the nest and take the eggs away. I feel mean doing it, but have found it to work.

Never had to use a cage yet, but that is a handy tip for the future.

I have had to be quite sneaky about taking the eggs away recently, as ours got wise and started laying away from their nest boxes and coop and I couldn't find them anywhere - although Zak came back a couple of times from one of the small woods with an egg I did look in there though, and couldn't find them.

Good luck.

thanks everyone ive just been taking the eggs away every day but theres been none today , maybe the others are laying else where ill just keep taking her off the nest , she has been plucking her leg feathers too just read on the internet this is a typical behavior of a broody hen

thanks x

Definitely typical behaviour. How is she been? Any sign of eggs?

Helen

hiya Helen no sign of any eggs today from any of the chickens

i went to let them out this morning and she wouldnt come out again so i picked her out and she ate and drank and went back in, so ive gone up there after work and took her out again then just been back up to put them all in and put her out for a bit aswell - just so i know shes drinking and eating something.

have my other hens stopped laying because she is in the nest box all day? maybee i should make a spare one

Possibly. They could be getting stressed and if she is a fiesty broody, she may not let them in; that could possibly stop them laying.

Are you going to hatch some eggs? If not, I may be tempted to go down the cage route to knock her off, or put her somewhere else.

As an aside, I found one of my runners sitting on a nest of 13 eggs today

Helen