Does hen eat while sitting on eggs

[pondereggs]

We just started an egg farm and have a hen laying on about 10 eggs. It does not seem that the hen is eating while she is laying on the eggs, is this normal?

Thanks
Pondereggs

 

[PD-Riverman]

We're hsving same problem. Our first brooder. She is not eating. Though we have set out foid and water by her. I guess we wil. Try lifting her off next to see is she'll est and poop.

This is a several year old thread---but to reply to you. I have set and hatched out over 70 hens in the last year, I have never had one to die and for sure I Do Not Put feed and water next to their nest-----doing so has about always caused them to poop in the nest. I have Never took a hen off her nest----they WILL come off when they get ready----Think about a free-range broody that disappeared and shows back up with a large amount of chicks-----They seem to do better when the Human does not interfere with them-----LOL. So I put their food and water a few feet away from the nest---they need to get off the nest to poop and stretch their legs so that helps them do that. Good Luck

 

[teach1rusl]

Some will get off the nest long enough to eat once or twice a day. Others won't. The only time one of my girls went broody, I would set her outside at least once per day to encourage her to eat, drink, and poo. She'd take about 10 or 15 minutes, and then run back to the nest. I also hand fed her scraps/treats pretty much every day. She still lost a ton of weight in those few weeks, and went into a molt directly afterwards (I suppose due to the physical stress).

 

[pgpoultry]

Normally a broody hen will come out once or twice daily for a short period to eat, drink and eliminate. Just occasionally they don't. If your hen is not leaving the nest at all, then once or twice daily lift her carefully from the eggs and offer her food and water. Usually the hen will eat and drink (plus do a pretty huge poop) and then make her way quickly back to the eggs.

One of my hens has to be manually lifted every day when she is broody as she will not get off the eggs herself, but all the rest come out daily of their own accord up until about day 19/20 when they stay put for 48 hours or so.

 

[pondereggs]

Thanks for the advice. We put some food and water next to where she was laying and she ate some food. This is our first so we were afraid that she was getting sick or that it was not normal. Been about 14 days now, so we should be seeing chicks soon.

Thanks again
Pondereggs

 

[Kittymomma]

I think your question has been answerd, but I wanted to share what I do with my broody girls--especially the ones that barely come off the nest. I scramble an egg for them a few times a week and feed it to them while they're on the nest. It's a good high protien food that even the most tranced out broody will eat. I think doing this helps keep them in better condition while they're broody.

 

[kano]

Quote:
I don't recommend this, because the hen will eat and drink without leaving the nest, and this is very necessary, because of the poo elimination.(result: dirty eggs) She also needs to elongate her muscles and even take dust baths. So the food and water at the other side of the coop. A little fresh air is not going to kill the embryos.

 

[Surehatch]

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I don't recommend this, because the hen will eat and drink without leaving the nest, and this is very necessary, because of the poo elimination.(result: dirty eggs) She also needs to elongate her muscles and even take dust baths. So the food and water at the other side of the coop. A little fresh air is not going to kill the embryos.

Interesting! I'd never considered some/most of those points.

 

[rosebuds]

i am new at this too got 2 hens broody on nest 1 with 4 eggs and 1 with 9.they will not eat or leave the nest.i offer food and water they eat very little.i am worried they are going to get sick.