Broody hen shivering

[ruairidh113]

I juts came back to check on this broody hen at 1:30 in the morning and she is in a small coop herself where the outside temperature is 40 Fahrenheit and I touched her and she seemed cold and a bit lifeless. Luckily she was still alive but as I watched further she was shivering and looked very slow. I’m not sure if this is because I woke her up. But the shivering is the thing that is bothering me 5 celcius if anyone is wondering

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Is she setting on eggs? They can get thin sometimes if they set too long. How long has she been broody?

 

[chickens really]

Possibly mites or lice? How long has she been setting?

 

[ruairidh113]

Possibly mites or lice? How long has she been setting?

13 days

 

[ruairidh113]

Possibly mites or lice? How long has she been setting?

 

[ruairidh113]

Is she setting on eggs? They can get thin sometimes if they set too long. How long has she been broody?

14 days

 

[Shadrach]

I juts came back to check on this broody hen at 1:30 in the morning and she is in a small coop herself where the outside temperature is 40 Fahrenheit and I touched her and she seemed cold and a bit lifeless. Luckily she was still alive but as I watched further she was shivering and looked very slow. I’m not sure if this is because I woke her up. But the shivering is the thing that is bothering me 5 celcius if anyone is wondering

Can she leave the coop at will?
Are you feeding her and if so what?
Is the nest clean?

 

[Shadrach]

It should work something like this.
When a hen sits her egg laying cycle gets switched off. Roughly one third by weight of a hens food intake is accounted for by the eggs she lays. So, in theory when sitting she needs one third less feed.
When hens sit they go into a type of trance. Their metabolism slows down and obviously they are not running around looking for food etc. This should give them a means of conserving energy and accumulating fat.
The hen 'know' that once the chicks are hatched she will need to expend a great deal of energy feeding the chicks and she will get to eat the bare minimum. If a hen is losing weight while sitting then she is not getting access to sufficient feed.
When the hen leaves the nest to eat, drink and bath, she should do a massive very smelly poop.
You can roughly judge how much the hen is eating by the size of this pile. Pretty much her entire poop load comes out in one giant pile.
Different hens eat different amounts but if you take a 3 ounce (80 grams) average for a laying hen then you should be looking at a pile of poop of at least 2 ounces. You can measure out 2 ounces of feed to get an idea of the volume you should be seeing.
Some hens, even when they have free access to the outside need to be taken off the nest once a day and have the food put under their beak. A sitting hen here will eat 2 ounces of feed easily when she gets off the nest.
If your hen is unable to leave the nest this can sometimes cause weight loss. Because they go into a trance when sitting they may not wake up enough to feed properly. Ideally they need to be away from the nest to eat. Having the eggs close by seems sometimes to draw them back to sitting before they have eaten and drunk enough.
You can put feed in with the hen. Once again because of the trance like state they may not eat it.
All this makes better sense when you consider this.
If a hen loses weight while she sits, she eventually becomes weaker. In 21 days of insufficient food this can be a considerable weight loss. Say she hatches 6 chciks, they will all take priority in feeding for another 21 days or more. During the 21 days post hatching the hen will expended more energy feeding the chicks than hse would just feeding herself and producing an egg.
Now this is a very rough guide and there are other factors to take into account,but in short, if your hen is losing any considerable amount of weight while sitting there is a keeping/feeding problem or she is sick.

 

[ruairidh113]

Can she leave the coop at will?
Are you feeding her and if so what?
Is the nest clean?

Yeah she has food and whatever and she is in 8 eggs she has perked up now though

 

[ruairidh113]

It should work something like this.
When a hen sits her egg laying cycle gets switched off. Roughly one third by weight of a hens food intake is accounted for by the eggs she lays. So, in theory when sitting she needs one third less feed.
When hens sit they go into a type of trance. Their metabolism slows down and obviously they are not running around looking for food etc. This should give them a means of conserving energy and accumulating fat.
The hen 'know' that once the chicks are hatched she will need to expend a great deal of energy feeding the chicks and she will get to eat the bare minimum. If a hen is losing weight while sitting then she is not getting access to sufficient feed.
When the hen leaves the nest to eat, drink and bath, she should do a massive very smelly poop.
You can roughly judge how much the hen is eating by the size of this pile. Pretty much her entire poop load comes out in one giant pile.
Different hens eat different amounts but if you take a 3 ounce (80 grams) average for a laying hen then you should be looking at a pile of poop of at least 2 ounces. You can measure out 2 ounces of feed to get an idea of the volume you should be seeing.
Some hens, even when they have free access to the outside need to be taken off the nest once a day and have the food put under their beak. A sitting hen here will eat 2 ounces of feed easily when she gets off the nest.
If your hen is unable to leave the nest this can sometimes cause weight loss. Because they go into a trance when sitting they may not wake up enough to feed properly. Ideally they need to be away from the nest to eat. Having the eggs close by seems sometimes to draw them back to sitting before they have eaten and drunk enough.
You can put feed in with the hen. Once again because of the trance like state they may not eat it.
All this makes better sense when you consider this.
If a hen loses weight while she sits, she eventually becomes weaker. In 21 days of insufficient food this can be a considerable weight loss. Say she hatches 6 chciks, they will all take priority in feeding for another 21 days or more. During the 21 days post hatching the hen will expended more energy feeding the chicks than hse would just feeding herself and producing an egg.
Now this is a very rough guide and there are other factors to take into account,but in short, if your hen is losing any considerable amount of weight while sitting there is a keeping/feeding problem or she is sick.

Thanks allot she is doing good but not pooping allot and only out the nest and shed once a day or more but there’s only 4 days till hatching so I think everything is okay