Broody hen eating but not drinking...

[Brahmachicken240]

Bit of a weird scenario here.
Our buff Orpington hen went broody 2 days ago and when she’s out in the morning she eats, poops and hops back into the nest avoiding the water dish. I’m starting to worry as she has not drank anything for two days now.

 

[Shadrach]

Bit of a weird scenario here.
Our buff Orpington hen went broody 2 days ago and when she’s out in the morning she eats, poops and hops back into the nest avoiding the water dish. I’m starting to worry as she has not drank anything for two days now.

I sometimes put water in with broodies, but never food until the chicks hatch.
I've got a bantam broody atm who doesn't drink when she goes out. I expect she would eventually but as you mention, it's a bit concerning. She poops, eats, goes and has a dust bath most days and marched straight past the water on her way back to the nest.
I've been leaving a bowl of water in with her because it's pretty warm here and the water level goes down so she must be drinking it.

 

[gtaus]

I have only watched YouTube videos, so I have no practical experience to offer, concerning broody hens. With that in mind, I liked the idea of taking the broody hen, eggs, and nest and putting them into an isolation cage. In there, you would offer separate food and water and you could better monitor the intake of broody hen.

With that concept in mind, I built my nest boxes on the removable dish bin design. If a hen goes broody on fertile eggs, you can just lift the hen, the eggs, and the complete nest bin without disturbing the hen too much and put the whole bin into an isolation cage. Building the nest boxes to be removable seemed like a nice way to prepare for broody hens in the future. I hope it works as well as promoted by some good people on YouTube.