Bonkers chicken.

[dave45]

She has been like this for nearly 4 months. I've had her about 16 months from POL

Seems perfectly healthy, but prefers to sit in the nesting boxes all day... not exactly broody but similar coz she usually doesn't sit on the eggs - they can be in the next nesting box ignored. I've tried turfing her out all the time, but her persistence is greater than mine. Her red bits have faded and she aint laying. She also clucks continuously like a timebomb.

Not justifying her existence... feeling like Mrs Tweedie....

any ideas?

[diggernotdreamer]

I have one doing the same thing, she keeps going in the barn and sitting in a bucket of sawdust under the bandsaw, been in there weeks, I am fed up with her doing this so I am going to chuck her off and hide the bucket, I have had them doing this before and I had to chuck them outside and away from the chicken run and nest boxes to 'break' the habit, had to do it a few days but then it came round and started being normal again.

[dave45]

Chicken Run again - I guess she needs a week in "solitary"

except I don't have the facility !

[diggernotdreamer]

Turfed tiny chicken out of the shavings bucket a couple of days ago, and although she is still clucking away, she is back up in bantam heights with the others, so result

[dave45]

with the coming of the cold and wet weather she seems to have stopped the nest-box behaviour, and is behaving "normally" again. Still faded red bits and not laying though.. probably just in time for the moulting feathers business...

[dave45]

A year on.. no problems at all, still laying well. They never moulted properly last year (mild winter?) and not showing any signs this year (yet)