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Hello. We've kept hens for about eight years and never run into quite this situation. We've had mild and brief broodiness before, but since Saturday Goldie, our Golden Speckledy, has taken herself off to a tree trunk nest and begun to sit on eggs.
We're assuming that she's got the wrong end of the stick and the eggs aren't fertile as we don't have a cockerel, but there is one in the next field. I can't see clearly from our house/garden, but I think all their hens are in a protected enclosure, so I don't think she would have been able to bring shame on our house that way
DH is prepared to lamp the eggs to see if there's anything doing inside - if there is, we're happy to let them develop and hatch.
Our biggest concern is Goldie losing condition and conking out or becoming ill. If I go out in the road and look upwards I can see her. she's about 6' up a tree, well tucked away in a nook; she's chosen her spot well. When we first noticed she'd gone we thought it most likely she'd been shut in somewhere and when she appeared at 7.00 the next morning trying to get *in* to the hen house, I was sure that's what had happened. She then disappeared again, reappearing on Monday when I got home from school with the children. She fed, hung out with her flock-mates briefly, behaved very oddly making a strange noise and fluffing out a lot, then went back to the nest - hilarious to realise she'd been hiding right next to the hen house all along while we went all over the place nearby trying to find her! Now we know where she is we're putting an oat and pea porridge out for her near her nest. It's going, but we can't be sure it's her eating it.
I've got a hen crate on order, but on the basis that the eggs are duds is the best thing to do to crate her til she gets over it? It feels cruel - she was frantic for the 10 mins I shut her in on Monday afternoon while I prepared (as I expected) to track her under hedge and over ditch - but I don't want her to kill or damage herself brooding pointlessly. The other hens seem completely fine - they're behaving normally and laying well.
Any advice? Thank you
We're assuming that she's got the wrong end of the stick and the eggs aren't fertile as we don't have a cockerel, but there is one in the next field. I can't see clearly from our house/garden, but I think all their hens are in a protected enclosure, so I don't think she would have been able to bring shame on our house that way
DH is prepared to lamp the eggs to see if there's anything doing inside - if there is, we're happy to let them develop and hatch.Our biggest concern is Goldie losing condition and conking out or becoming ill. If I go out in the road and look upwards I can see her. she's about 6' up a tree, well tucked away in a nook; she's chosen her spot well. When we first noticed she'd gone we thought it most likely she'd been shut in somewhere and when she appeared at 7.00 the next morning trying to get *in* to the hen house, I was sure that's what had happened. She then disappeared again, reappearing on Monday when I got home from school with the children. She fed, hung out with her flock-mates briefly, behaved very oddly making a strange noise and fluffing out a lot, then went back to the nest - hilarious to realise she'd been hiding right next to the hen house all along while we went all over the place nearby trying to find her! Now we know where she is we're putting an oat and pea porridge out for her near her nest. It's going, but we can't be sure it's her eating it.
I've got a hen crate on order, but on the basis that the eggs are duds is the best thing to do to crate her til she gets over it? It feels cruel - she was frantic for the 10 mins I shut her in on Monday afternoon while I prepared (as I expected) to track her under hedge and over ditch - but I don't want her to kill or damage herself brooding pointlessly. The other hens seem completely fine - they're behaving normally and laying well.
Any advice? Thank you
, they don't eat, their health does suffer and they can become a target for red mite. 
), and stops them becoming too detached from the rest of the flock - re-integrating can be hard for them at first, like with a new bird. Normally The Cage cures them within a couple of days or so - but as Scarlet says, you have to be hard! I've had to fetch birds back from a broody nest more than once because they 'pretend' they're fine, sneaky things! Listen for that gurgling sound - even the slightest one of those mixed in with normal chatty noises and you know they're stringing you along! Good luck, keep us informed 
xx
...Time will tell if it's human proof too!
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