Brooding hen was fine yesterday, today severely lethargic!

[epignosisjs]

Stella is a 16 month old EE hen that went broody over the past weekend. Yesterday she was fine. This morning I found her laying in the run next to the fencing. She can stand, but doesn't want to. She does respond to noise and my presence. Her crop felt normal, but not full (not quite empty, though). I placed her in a separate cage. She isn't taking food or water offered to her. She just lays there.

Palpatation of the vent area revealed no bumps, lumps or enlargement. There are no physical signs of trauma.
The run is sand, and I have hay in the nest boxes. I feed flock raiser and have oyster shell readily available and plenty of clean water. There have been no changes to the flock except for the roosters are coming into their own now. My three EE hens are 16 months, but the remainder of the flock are 4-5 months.

What do I need to feed her, how much and how often? How much water do I need turn syringe her with and how often?
Thank you all in advance for your help!

 

[featherz]

Stella is a 16 month old EE hen that went broody over the past weekend.

Since this was recent, how do you know she went broody? Was it because she was staying in the nest box or did she also 'act' broody? I ask only because an eggbound hen might also spend long periods of time in the nest box, as would an ill hen that needed a place to hide. If you pick her up to move her does she screech and poof up or just hang there limp? Seen any droppings?

 

[dawg53]

I had a broody Light Brahma that I had to physically remove from the nest so that she could eat and drink. Once she ate and drank, she returned to the nest. It was a pain for me to do this about 3 or 4 times a day just so that she could survive. She eventually hatched a few eggs but remained broody without eggs in the nest. I caged her seperated from the chicks and other chickens for 10 days, it broke her broodiness. While caged, I provided poultry nutri drench in her water and occasionally gave her scrambled eggs mixed with buttermilk to rebuild her strength and immune system.
If you dont want to break her broodiness, I recommend that you make a mixture of scrambled eggs, nutri drench, buttermilk all mixed with water and syringe feed her at least 3-4 times a day. You'll need plenty of patience to do this until the eggs hatch.

 

[epignosisjs]

She pecked at me if I got too close to her while she was on the nest. Tuesday night she removed an egg from her nest (one that I had slipped in while she was out eating). She would come out in the evenings to eat and drink, seemed fine, the past three days.Her droppings were normal. This morning she was out in the run, laying down.
I separated her from the flock. Around 9am she was standing, so I thought that was a good sign. But then she laid back down, a few drops of clear liquid came from her beak, then she thrashed around and died.
Necropsy revealed no bruising, no heat stroke, but her liver was grainy and yellowish on the outside.
Perhaps her previous owner allowed her calcium supplement too early? Or perhaps Stella just ate too much of it?

 

[ILuvPekins]

Hello. Understand this is an old forum; but I had something identical happen to one of my hens (couldn't find anything else akin online anywhere else) - was broody (least I thought she was); this morning she came out the henhouse, acted all lethargic; I checked her crop and vent, she wasn't egg-bound - and about an hour later she spasmed and died. She did have a clear stringy mucus in her mouth, and slightly rasped breathing. No mites, or parasites - and was completely healthy the day before. Hatched this chicken myself and have never feed them a calcium supplement. This particular hen was about 8 months old.