# Female stays in nest box day and night, not eating



## Whinney48 (Jul 20, 2013)

Hi, my female stays in her nest box day and night some days and she doesn't eat or poop very often. But today she has come out and sits on the bottom of the cage kind of lethargic and fluffed up. She did eat some pellets, some millet, and some seed mix, and I saw her drink some water. The male stays in with her most the time but comes out usually at night. Is this normal? She laid three eggs, the first on the 1st of February, so they should be hatching soon. One was obviously dis, so I tossed it, but the other two look okay. I just got these birds in January, so don't really know their behavior too much. She is thin. Thanks for your help.


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## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

My Swinger spends most of the time in the box and still comes out for breaks but I've never seen her fluffed up or lethargic on the cage floor, if you tossed the dis egg I would keep an eye on her and make sure she's not trying to lay another egg to replace it. I think you are usually suppose to leave them in the nest unless they are leaking fluid or has cracks. Other than that some one else should be able to help more.

Hope she's ok


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

No you always toss DIS eggs...if there happens to be a fright and the egg gets trampled, it could cause bacteria to grow in the box which could kill any babies that may hatch. Never leave a DIS egg in the nest, infertile eggs are fine though. 

Squiggles and Bubbles both were what I call 24hr hens. They both spent the whole time in the nest, only coming out to eat, poop, and drink. Its not that the males don't want to help, its that these are very controlling hens. But the lethargic acting and puffing up are worrisome, as neither one of my girls did that.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

Pikachu (one of my hens) started as a 24 hour sitter. My bond was strong enough that I was able to take her out of the nestbox and feed her from my own hand. After a while of doing this in the morning she started stepping out of the nestbox every on her own when I came home from work (I work the graveyard). That is when I feed soft foods like egg or broccoli.

If this was some form of imprinting that can be copied and replicated, I'm not quite sure.


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## Whinney48 (Jul 20, 2013)

Thanks for the input! It's been very cold in our area although we keep it around 70 inside. The cage is by a window. She came out this morning when I replenished everything and she did poo, ate, drank, and then went right back in her box. I'm believing she's okay. I took the dis out because it looked like there were small cracks and I did not want to risk contamination. I'll post again after the eggs hatch which should be in the next few days. Pray all goes well! : )


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