She refuses to budge. I know I should let her do her thing, but the food and water are untouched, and no poos at all. And this is just the first 8 days. Ideas? Anyone else seen this length of time?
Does she have eggs in her nest? Can you put her outside for awhile without access to the nest boxes? I also have one who's being stubborn, but I don't let her keep any eggs. At least she gets out to eat every morning. Good luck.
I have her on eggs. We need partial flock replacement by the end of the year. She is just making me nervous. And its way below zero outside with lots of snow, and I have her inside. Not to keen on setting her outside for a few minutes.
I'm wondering if she realizes how cold it is and that if she leaves the nest even for a short time the egg's temp will drop too fast. Sometimes you can take food and water to them and they will eat and drink. I used to do this sometimes when it seemed like they weren't getting enough. Sometimes they'd take it sometimes they won't. Good luck with the hatch. p.s. did'nt read your last post in time. Not sure why she won't get up then if she's warm enough.
I finally pulled her out for 10 minutes. Boy was she crabby But, she went ahead and drank 1/4 cup of water. No food or poo, but we will trya again in a couple of days, if she's still not doing it voluntarily. You might be right about her being confused tempature wise. All mixed up from being brought in. I did not want her in the coop with the extreme temps. The eggs would not fare well.
I'd drag her off every day. She can actually die. I had a hen who almost did her first time out; no eggs, just air. Toward the end of 21 days (we tried and tried to break her up but she was nutso) she lost control of her legs and her head began twitching and gazing upward, and this was in spite of us taking her off the nest once a day. The last couple of days, she wasn't eating or drinking and we put her in a brooder and syringed water in her mouth along with a vitamin E softgel. In a day or two, she snapped out of it, but if we hadn't taken emergency measures, Sunny wouldn't be with us today at 4 years old. It's okay for the eggs to cool a bit. My broodies get off for up to 45 minutes or so. If it's cold out, we warm a towel in the microwave and put it on her eggs while she's off.
Quote:Good idea with the towel. I will do that. Yes, that has been my worry. Her just getting into the zone, and never getting out. I will pull her again tonight, in hopes that the water will have triggered the poo factory.
