Possible broody

Either that or she is ill I hope not!

Ehster is a Black Hybrid hen but something is telling me she decided to go broody.

She doesn't seem ill just keen to get back to the coop and looks a bit lost without an egg to sit on. She was sitting on one when I collected today.

I have a spare coop I'm considering getting some fertile eggs from the same place I got her from and see if she sits on them.

I had a brahma that went broody last year and Ehster seems to be show the same signs she did.

You lucky thing!! I still desperately miss my chooks, even after several years.

She doesn't sound ill - normally they do that horrible thing of hunching up somewhere with tail feathers down, and making it quite plain that nothing you can do will stop them from keeling over. That is one thing that I disliked about chickens......their pessimistic attitude and determination to die if they feel ill

Have you got a broody run? If not, just let her stay in her chosen nest box and stick some fertile eggs underneath. Fingers crossed here that you end up with ladies and not noisy men!

Ooops, just spotted that you DO have a spare coop

They are very entertaining and the big girls can go out with the dog but the little polands are too small and Millie likes to try and flush them out >.>

Ehster seems fine I checked her again this evening and she was fully allert but determined to sit!

I am worried about leaving her in the coop incase she gets protective of her new brood.

I used to find that it was easier all round to put Mrs Broody in her own coop, so that she could safely get up to have a bite to eat and a drink without fear of someone else leaping into her nest box to lay another egg, which not only caused aggro but also raised the possibility of a rather unpleasant egg at the end of proceedings!

Having said that, one of mine raised a brood in amongst all the others very successfully. They were free range though so had loads of space.

If you slip your hand under her tum and it feels very hot, then she is almost definitely in mum to be mode. An old remedy for unwanted broodiness was to put the poor bird in a cage and hang it from a branch to allow air to circulate around it. Not something I would ever want to do.