Boodie for too long?

[Jolyn]

I have a barred rock (about 14 months old) that has seriously been broody for several months. She hardly ever leaves her nest unless i push her out. She is getting thin and her comb is shriveling up and very pale. She doesn't seem ill otherwise....today i pushed her out of the nest and she free ranged for an hour and seemed just fine.

I checked her over and don't see any mites.....I have never wormed and probably should. Although not sure how that would affect the eggs. What do i get and where for worming?

Today when she heard the door open to the coop she ran right in.....found a nest that had an egg in it and proceeded to climb on top of it and get comfortable.

She so desperately seems to want to hatch a chick.

Could she just be broody or do you think something else is up?

Please let me know what you think!!

 

[Crystalchic]

are barred rocks supposed to go broody
mine never have one broody
but maybe if she is she wants to hatch some chicks is that an option

 

[Jolyn]

We don't have a rooster so unless i get fertile eggs somewhere it just won't happen.

I do have two new chicks i could give her but i don't have any place to put her with the babies.

 

[Jolyn]

Oh and i would assume they would go broody....don't all hens????

 

[astylishgirl]

I am having a similar situation. I have a hen that went broodie. She shrieks at me every time I try to get her to leave the nest. The rooster shrieks to... It is like he is saying:

Leave her alone! Leave her alone!

It is a hoot. The noise they make is just obnoxious! Nothing like anything I have heard them say before. IT is like a screech.

So I am giving her some eggs to sit on. I am just worried she will get too hot in the nest box in the the little hen tractor. It is so hot here in Texas.

 

[sammi]

it's important to get them up to eat, drink, "go", and exercise the legs..
she's not eating enough, and could also have worms..
describe the droppings..color and consistency.
Wazine 17..sometimes labeled Piperazine 17 will do as a wormer, and is easy to get and use..one day treatment, then retreat in 10 days.
always best to not use the eggs for a few days or a week..(more with other meds)..Wazine fairly safe.
eggs can be given back to the birds.

she probably could use some poultry vitamins or Poly-vi-sol, no iron, and some chopped egg in her feed with some plain yogurt to help bulk her back up...

might need to separate her in a temporary pen with another hen..no bedding ..just a "day" pen..to keep her from heading to a nest.

some people have luck breaking a broody by using a wire pet kennel, wire cage, or hutch type pen.
something you can keep up..no bedding..just food and water..
keep her in this for about 3 days..then let her out..
if she heads for a nest box..back in the broody pen for another 2-3 days..etc..

not good for them to be broody all the time..they don't eat right, and it lowers the immune system, and slows the crop..
but some are very determined.
One girl I had would walk around in a daze when I took her off the nest..and go screaming across the pen..

I have a hen who hates a broody hen..hates the cluck cluck sound..
she gives them a good peck on the head..BONK!
like she's saying.."Knock it off."....

LOL

 

[Jolyn]

The first time she ever went broodie i did use a wire pet kennel.....and it did work. Then after she did it again i just let her go thinking she wasn't hurting anything but it's just continuing on and on. I may have to do it again!!!

Thanks sammi for all the advice....i will check into the wormer, vitamins and etc...

The Hoof and Hen Ranch~ hope yours can hatch some chicks....

 

[Judy]

She is broody. Break it, or you could lose her. Wire pen til it works. Chicks hatch in 3 weeks. Hen are not designed to brood much longer.

Broodies can certainly die of starvation. Good broodies get off once a day to eat, drink and poop. But some just sit there.

 

[Jolyn]

Thanks ddawn!! I will start tomorrow!

 

[Judy]

Quote:
No. Hatcheries have worked hard to breed this out of them, so they will lay more, as broodies do not lay.

As a result, we get broodies who don't know how to mother, and kill chicks, as well as hens who never go broody, and many other variations. Some breeds are still more likely to go broody than others. Look here:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

Not saying you should not worm, or that vitamins are necessarily bad, esp. if you have crested breeds.