broody wont eat

[detali]

Help!
I have waited for one of my hens to go broody for a long time. I finally got one. She is sitting so tight that she is not even getting up to eat or drink. I picked her up and brought her to the food dish this morning. She just sat in front of it, did not eat, same with the water. I finally went inside and got an eye dropper and put a few drops of water in her beak. She did swallow that. She will starve if she keeps this up. What should I do?

 

[steward]

Hi Detali, I just had the same thing happen. She will eventually eat. I did give mine water with a kids medicine doser,but I don't think she really needed it. I gave her some dry cat food that she did eat after awhile. I'm sure there are also other posts in the search section. I would look for more details there. Good luck!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

How long has she been setting? What is the average temperature where she is? If she just started setting she may not need to eat much yet. If it's cool where she is then she may not want to get up often to take her coffee breaks. Smooth the feed flat in her dish, fill her water to the top, and clean the floor of her pen. Within the next 2-3 days you should see evidence that she ate/drank/pooped.

Sometimes when you pick them up off the nest they're still in their Broody Buzz and won't immediately eat/drink. They don't expend much energy while setting so therefore do not need to eat/drink as much as usual.

There are a few ditzy individuals who will allow themselves to starve to death, but those are among the very few. Just keep an eye on her condition. As long as she has energy to fluff up & growl at you when you reach for her she *should* be all right. Watch also for lice or mites, they like to prey on setting hens and can seriously deplete their energy if left untreated.

 

[tammyd57]

My BO only came off the nest one time in 25 days on her own and that was after she had been sitting for a week. She just scratched around in the dirt for like 5 minutes and went back in without really eating or drinking. I put water and food right in front of her in the nest box, but she wouldn't touch that either. Right now I'm keeping her separate from the rest of the flock so she can recover her strength and be able to defend herself when she gets re-introduced to the other adults. I put her chicks in my brooder when they hatched because she was so weak from sitting for so long. She's doing great now and I think this weekend I will put her back in the big coop with her buddies. They can see each other and talk through the fence so it should be okay for her.