Broody Hen

[Robinmainzer]

Is it normal for a broody hen to not eat much or drink much while she is setting? I have a hen who has been sitting for about a week and I do not know if she is eating or drinking at all. I have put her in a rabbit hutch with a nest and food but I have never seen her leave the nest. I also do not see any poop. Should I be worried?

 

[gritsar]

Keep a close eye on the level of feed and put on some body armor to check her crop at the end of the day if you have to. If her crop seems empty, you may have to force her off the nest once a day to eat, drink and poop.
A broody eats very little while she's setting and (usually) only poops once a day; a very large stinky poo. Consider switching her to scratch grains as her main feed. It will help keep her stools firmer and has a bit more fat to help her keep her body weight up.

 

[Ironmaiden]

I second the VERY LARGE STINKY POOP!

I didn't think my hen was getting off the nest either, but some of the feed is gone...and I caught her off of it for a second this morning, so they DO get off. Just not often at all.

 

[koley7]

Last summer BOTH of my Buff Orpington hens went broody, about 3 weeks apart. I kept them separate from the rest of the flock, and got some fertile eggs for them to sit on from my neighbor. Both did not eat or drink (or poop) almost the whole time. I kept food & water available, right next to them, and figured that when they got hungry/thirsty they would take care of themselves. Still i thought they'd starve but were just fine! they seemed to lose a little weight, but they took the job of sitting VERY SERIOUSLY! Anyway, all went well, i had 14 chicks hatch from the 2 of them and now my 'chicks' are just starting to lay! Don't worry, if you make food/water available they'll take care of themselves just fine. You're doing great! Hope you get some chicks too! (just don't count your chicks before they're hatched, as the old saying accurately goes - i had some eggs that never hatched & threw them out).

 

[greenfingers]

I know when my hens were broody, I just made them get off once a day to eat and drink and poop. Otherwise I had one that ended up exploding all over the nest! Yikes! After that I made sure they got off at least once a day. They kind of look around in a daze, then they see the food/water and go 'hey! I'm hungry/thirsty!' They quickly eat, poop and get back on. I also kind of toss mine up in the air so they stretch their wings a bit. I heard that this helps them get things moving so that they poop before getting back on the nest. Just my experience