Broody Hen - Pale Waddles

Newchickiemamma

In the Brooder
Jun 17, 2018
36
17
28
Hello,
About two weeks ago I noticed my golden laced Wyandotte went broody. She is not hatching any chicks. Every day I force her out of the nesting box to eat, drink and range for a few hours by locking her out. Today I noticed her wattles are turning light pink. She stopped plucking her feathers but she still won’t leave the nest box on her own. Should I be concerned?
 
You may want to break her broodiness.
See that she is eating/drinking, you may want to provide her with some poultry vitamins for a few days as well. Broodies do not always take care of themselves very well, so crop problems and parasites can sneak up on them. Check her for lice/mites and confirm that her crop is emptying by morning.

Here's some tips on breaking a broody:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/broody-breaker-when-hens-mood-to-hatch/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer.72619/
 
Thank you! They all currently have sticktight fleas which I posted about in a different thread. They started on her and spread to my other chickens. I had no idea what it was and searched for days!

I have a rabbit cage I can use to break her broody tendencies, I just don’t know if she is at the point where she needs to be in it. When I remove her from the nest box she will range with the other chickens and check to see if the coop is open for her every few hours (I lock her out). But she doesn’t throw a fit like she initially did, she just walks back down and joins the other chickens. Do you think it’s necessary to put her in the rabbit cage?
 
Do you have photos of your hen - especially of the fleas on the face/wattles, etc. A good photos will not only be helpful for us giving you suggestions, but your photos will be helpful to others in the future when they search information.

The fleas can really drag them down, so you want to get rid of those-do you have a treatment plan? If they are sticktight fleas, even when they are dead, they won't fall off so you will have to remove them with tweezers. I'm sure that will be no fun at all, but I would worry about infection if left. Since they are on the face, apply some Neosporin to smother them, then pick them off. Reapply the Neosporin to help heal the skin.

If she is not trying to get back to the boxes with great urgency, then she may be partially broken anyway. I would continue doing what your already doing if closing off the coop isn't stressing your other hens.

With hot weather, I don't like to cage them unless absolutely necessary, so give her a few more days. The rabbit hutch will make an ideal broody breaker or sick/injured hospital though:)

I would just watch her for a few days to see that she is eating/drinking. Broodies can be pale since they are not in lay, but the fleas could be draining her too. She may like a little beef liver or you can add poultry vitamins that contain B Vitamins.

I hope she is doing o.k. Keep us posted.
 
Thanks so much for your help!! I will post pictures of the fleas tonight, I have a treatment plan in Place, I posted another thread on here last night and everyone was very helpful! I’m thinking within two days I should be able to pluck those dead suckers off! As for cleaning the coop, I won’t be able to do that till the weekend as I work full time about an hour away from home so I really don’t have the time needed to do a full cleanout until the weekend. I’m hoping the Vaseline/neosporine will so the trick until then.
 
Update: I dusted the coop down with DE but I haven’t been able to apply the Vaseline. My Wyandotte is so moody she keeps biting the q-tips and pecking me as I’m trying to apply it. She also had some sort of tick on her face the other night when I went to let them out to range. I was planning on going up at night and trying to sneak attack her while she was sleeping to get it off but she got it off on her own. It left a small hole but it has since healed. I believe I have more of an infestation than just fleas. She is also itching like crazy and I’m not sure if it’s mites or lice. I checked her feathers and I don’t think I see any lice eggs but I did notice very small sand-colored specks on her feathers every time I open the nesting box to get her out. These specks don’t appear to be moving or are very slow moving if anything. Someone on another thread I posted recommended to use permethrin spray but I’m nervous to use chemicals on my chickens. Has anyone had any luck with this? Is it safe? Also, how do I apply it? Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!
 
I just did a dip on my girls using neem oil as active ingredient, then sprayed the entire coop and run with it. It stinks something awful. I think it helped, but it didn't get rid of the scaly leg mites. So I'll be painting their legs with neem this weekend. My husband eschews me using any chemicals, but I kind of wished I had because I think it would have gotten everything the first go round. If my girls had a worse infestation, I think I'd have to go over his head to save the flock, you know?
 
You’re so brave dipping your girls! I pulled off two fleas tonight and I feel like I tortured them enough for a lifetime! I’ve read about neem oil but only after I invested a hefty amount in permethrin, some other “natural” repellent, nematodes that eat flea eggs and larvae, and herbs for the nesting box that supposedly act as a repellent. I also stocked up on neosporine, tweezers to use just for the removal of sticktight fleas and different bedding. Apparently hay is really bad for this sort of thing and can bring on mites and fleas. I did some reading about scaly leg mites and i read that you need to brush away the scales with a soft bristled toothbrush and then apply the neem oil under the scales to kill the mites then apply Vaseline on top of that to smother them. However, I never experienced scaly leg mites so I can’t really tell you if it works or not. Good luck!!
 
For scaly leg mites, I'd not use a tooth brush on the legs. That would be quite irritating to a leg that is already sore. A good soak in epsom salt followed by coating the legs in any type of barrier oil will kill the mites. DE will not kill mites or lice, or fleas.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom