Broody hen is dying!!

[Dcbenik93]

Hi all I want sure if I should put this under "hatching eggs" but it is more of an emergency... my girl Lacey has been on her nest for about two weeks, barely eating and drinking (I moved some food and water w/ nutri-drench to near her box) and now she's pale and lethargic, can barely stand up and her eyes keep closing. She is COVERED with red mites. I wasnt able to clean her box during the spring cleaning because she was already setting. Is there anything I can do to save her?

 

[Shadrach]

Hi all I want sure if I should put this under "hatching eggs" but it is more of an emergency... my girl Lacey has been on her nest for about two weeks, barely eating and drinking (I moved some food and water w/ nutri-drench to near her box) and now she's pale and lethargic, can barely stand up and her eyes keep closing. She is COVERED with red mites. I wasnt able to clean her box during the spring cleaning because she was already setting. Is there anything I can do to save her?

Get her off the nest immediately. Preferably bring her into the house.
You need to deal with the mites with Permethrin.
https://www.amazon.com/slp/permethrin-insecticide/da4m4nb547ot545
Clean out her coop and delouse that as well.
Feed her fish, tuna is good, scrambled eggs as well as her normal feed if she will eat it.
You need to do this now. She will require full on supportive care.
Keep offering Nutri Drench.
My advice is to forget about the eggs and learn how to keep a broody hen for next time.

 

[Dcbenik93]

Get her off the nest immediately. Preferably bring her into the house.
You need to deal with the mites with Permethrin.
https://www.amazon.com/slp/permethrin-insecticide/da4m4nb547ot545
Clean out her coop and delouse that as well.
Feed her fish, tuna is good, scrambled eggs as well as her normal feed if she will eat it.
You need to do this now. She will require full on supportive care.
Keep offering Nutri Drench.
My advice is to forget about the eggs and learn how to keep a broody hen for next time.

Thank you I'll take her off now and put her in a large dog crate. My last hen hatched 4 babies on the same nest 4 weeks ago and took breaks to give herself dust baths and eat/drink but I've rarely seen Lacey leave the nest. I'll see if my local Tractor Supply has permethrin. I'm not worried about the eggs hatching but is there anything I can do to not waste them (feed them to the pigs?). Thank you so much for your help

 

[Kfults]

I recently lost a broody at 2 weeks. She was getting up everyday and was acting normal until the evening she died. She did not have mites ( I checked ). She just became lethargic one afternoon and my supportive care with nutridrench did not help. I have had multiple broodies and hatched multiple times with broodies. Talking to fellow chicken keepers with more experience than me.... sometimes this just happens. Broody takes a lot out of a chicken and makes them more susceptible to illness and less resistant to fight off whatever. I usually dust my nests with permethrin powder to prevent mites. I hope you are able to save her. Make sure to dust all nests and other chickens with permethrin too.
As my friend told me- sometimes ( even if not broody) a chicken will die unexpectedly. They hide any ailments well until it is too late.

 

[Dcbenik93]

I recently lost a broody at 2 weeks. She was getting up everyday and was acting normal until the evening she died. She did not have mites ( I checked ). She just became lethargic one afternoon and my supportive care with nutridrench did not help. I have had multiple broodies and hatched multiple times with broodies. Talking to fellow chicken keepers with more experience than me.... sometimes this just happens. Broody takes a lot out of a chicken and makes them more susceptible to illness and less resistant to fight off whatever. I usually dust my nests with permethrin powder to prevent mites. I hope you are able to save her. Make sure to dust all nests and other chickens with permethrin too.
As my friend told me- sometimes ( even if not broody) a chicken will die unexpectedly. They hide any ailments well until it is too late.

I feel so terrible!! I dipped her break in the tuna fish water and she drank a little bit. I've been dusting her every other day while she was brooding with DE because that's all I've ever used. I was so shocked to see all the mites because there's been no trace of them before. I am about to go out and buy permethrin and clean out the nest and the whole roosting area again.

 

[Shadrach]

Thank you I'll take her off now and put her in a large dog crate. My last hen hatched 4 babies on the same nest 4 weeks ago and took breaks to give herself dust baths and eat/drink but I've rarely seen Lacey leave the nest. I'll see if my local Tractor Supply has permethrin. I'm not worried about the eggs hatching but is there anything I can do to not waste them (feed them to the pigs?). Thank you so much for your help

Some hens will not leave the nest and you have to carefully lift them off the eggs once a day and make sure the eat, drink and poop and very important for a broody hen, dust bath.
I suppose you could feed the eggs to the pigs.
Put some towels in the bottom of the dog crate to make it more comfortable.
If your hen won't eat or drink on her own this is a good article on how to syringe or tube feed her.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[Shadrach]

I feel so terrible!! I dipped her break in the tuna fish water and she drank a little bit. I've been dusting her every other day while she was brooding with DE because that's all I've ever used. I was so shocked to see all the mites because there's been no trace of them before. I am about to go out and buy permethrin and clean out the nest and the whole roosting area again.

DE will not kill mites or any other parasites as you're finding out.
If you can, burn the old nest material.

 

[chickens really]

Yikes..Definitely dust her and up in a Broody beaker off the ground on a floor of wire.