4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[K-F-C]

I got in unusually late last night (about 9pm) all the girls were in the cube with KiKi sat on her egg... and she protested loudly when I removed it from under her.

 

Today I got in at the usual time of about 4 and KiKi was again sat on her egg in the nest box (the wife having said that she went to lay it at the usual time of 10ish)... again she was not too happy when I removed it.

 

I then let her out for the past hour or so to free range and she was very offish with me... would not eat out of my hand or crouch to let me pick her up etc... Does this mean that she is becoming broody? If so, what do I do about it?

 

 

 

On a different subject I have noticed a lot of FiFi's white feathers in the run today... she does not usually shed them and has no bald patches... is this the start of a moult? Also since laying her first tiny egg, a week or so ago, she has not layed since... is this normal? (She is about 27 weeks old)

[Daphne]

Kiki definitely sounds like she's becoming broody - you can try shutting her out, changing her routine and seeing if she snaps out of it, or to do it properly you put her in a broody cage (like a wire cat cage) with no solid bottom so she can't sit. Stick it on a couple of bricks to get air flowing under and cooling her. This may take several days to work, but leaving broody will take 3 weeks and a possible loss of condition for the hen. There's loads more detail on breaking broodies in other threads (maybe a sticky if you're lucky).

 

Fifi does sound like she might be moulting although she's very young to do this. Have you checked thoroughly for lice/mites? Treat her for them if she hasn't been done recently. She's probably having a mini-mini-moult.

[K-F-C]

Thanks... she's defo broody... she went straight back up when I came in here to post and sat in there with no egg! I've kicked her out and shut the door... she seems to be behaving normally in the run. I've been reading up on it and hopefully she'll snap out of it soon!

 

 

 

Checked FiFi for lice... she seems to be free as she did have a mild case a couple of weeks ago. I'll re dust her at bed time to be sure.

 

Any idea why I would've got one small egg from her and nothing since?

[Space Chick]

They do stop laying when they go broody

[Daphne]

Tiny eggs are often called wind eggs which a pullet can often lay as her first egg or one of them. Its not unusual to lay one of these/or something a bit bigger and then have a break, then maybe start again a bit haphazardly with bigger eggs and then everything becomes normal with full size production models, though I have to say its not usual to lay one egg then moult a bit. If she's not fully free of any peskies then she probably won't be inclined to lay so I'd concentrate on making sure she's lice/mite free, feed her up with pellets/mash not treats (in fact I'd cut them out for now) and see how she goes.