I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. Was she showing any kinds of illness before she started brooding? Was her comb pale or purple? Was she eating normally before she went broody? I can't imagine she would just refuse to get off her nest at all and starve herself. I know they sometimes go a day or two without getting off but normally they get off once a day to eat, drink and relieve themself.
No she wasn't showing any signs of illness, that we could see. We have had others get ill, that we've had to nurse back and she wasn't showing any of those signs beforehand. Our Stormy was the sweetest chicken in the world! We miss her so much. She always had a pink comb before, so I don't think it was paler? And yes she appeared to be of good health before, eating, drinking, freeranging regularly. I really can't say she starved to death, truthfully we don't know, and have already given her a proper burial. She was getting off the nest briefly the first few days, then appeared to just outright stop getting up off the nest. It appeared she stopped eating, and I can't help to feel guilty.
i have family in brooksville/ spring hill border. my grandmother sometimes had to throw her hens off the nest so they would eat, they would go back. but it really surprizes me that a hen would do that. i think it may be some other cause.what kind of hen was it?
Haha that's funny! We used to live in Indiana too (Plainfield). And our sweet Stormy is the one in my profile picture. A silver laced bantam cochin. We got her and a brother and sister from a local feed store who purchased from Ideal Poultry. The sister got picked up by a hawk, the brother; our dominant rooster.
I'm so very sorry for your loss. Were you able to save the eggs by putting them in a incubator? Perhaps she had a illness you were unaware of before she began sitting? Sometimes chickens can be very good at hiding illnesses. I can't imagine she would starve herself unless she had something else going on that you were not aware of. Again I'm very sorry for your loss..
Thank you all so so so much for the sympathy, not even going to lie, we are devastated. Trying to explain to your co-workers, they don't really seem to get it, 'they are just chickens after all'... sadly, she got off the eggs prior to dying. She was discovered deceased at approximately 12pm, when the first person gets home to let them out. At that point, they were already cold and we don't have an incubator, so they were buried with her in a fresh layer of pine shavings in an appropriate cardboard box. After she was buried, we planted fresh flowers overtop her grave, graced with an appropriate headstone.
Thanks again to all for the help, we truly are at a loss.
