Death from a broken heart...?

[MattyM]

So about 5 weeks ago I had a broody hen successfully hatch 2 chicks. I immediately moved them all, including the hen, to the brooder. The 3 of them lived in the brooder for the past 5 weeks without any issues. The chicks were getting much bigger and nearly fully feathered. 2 days ago I acquired 3 additional chicks that needed to be added to the brooder and the hen wasn't too happy with them. I was planning on moving the hen back to the coop next week because the initial chicks were getting bigger and didn't really need the hen anymore. So since I got the new chicks, I decided to move the hen back to the normal coop.

Once back in the coop, the hen seemed lethargic and "sad." My wife said yesterday she let the chickens free range and the mom hen didn't leave the coop all day. This morning I went out to check on them and the mom hen was found dead inside the coop. Could she have died from a "broken heart" or am I reading into this too much and it's probably something else that killed her? I plan to hatch more chicks in the future and want to learn from my mistakes, if any, for next time. Thanks!

 

[Top Rooster]

What is your weather where your at? They often get depressed when you take the chicks away before she was ready, I had a hen who's only chick died, she was frantically running in and around the coop looking for her chick. She eventually realized she was gone forever and just stood in the same spot with her tail down all day.

 

[MattyM]

Weather has been really mild. Yesterday was a high of 81 degrees and a low of 55 at night, but she was in the coop at night.

 

[Top Rooster]

Did she seem sick? Idk if it works very similarly but sometimes when an old persons wife or husband dies they tend to die shortly after too. So I guess it's possible for them to die of a broken heart.

 

[luckychick105]

Sorry for your loss . I'm not sure what it could have been.

 

[rebrascora]

I think it is more likely that the broody was already sick and the chicks were keeping her going. When you took her away, she had no reason to push herself.

How did you reintegrate her into the flock? If she has been away from the flock for several weeks and you put her back in, there is a good chance that she will be bullied. This could lead to an injury that would kill her or a heart attack from the stress of it.

Broody hens can be prone to impacted crops from eating and then long periods without activity whilst they set eggs. Keeping her in a brooder with the chicks after hatch instead of her being able to run around and forage and dust bath and teach the chicks all that they need to learn is not a healthy environment for her. I would urge you to consider letting your next broody hen raise her chicks within the flock. It is a much healthier environment for them and no issues with integration at a later date. It means that they are exposed to the soil and coccidia from a very early age and build up immunity from day one. They are generally much hardier and resistant to illness as a result.

 

[Ladybird CA]

But also be sure to watch out for hens or roosters that might attack the chicks. Hens usually protect their chicks well but I did have a speckled sussex attack a baby chick to death. After I first saw the hen attack the chick I separated the broody hen and chicks from the other hens but the chick escaped through a small opening and the mean hen was pecking its dead body the next day. The chick might've died from exposure but who knows what happened, better to stay on the safe side.

 

[MattyM]

I think it is more likely that the broody was already sick and the chicks were keeping her going. When you took her away, she had no reason to push herself.

How did you reintegrate her into the flock? If she has been away from the flock for several weeks and you put her back in, there is a good chance that she will be bullied. This could lead to an injury that would kill her or a heart attack from the stress of it.

Broody hens can be prone to impacted crops from eating and then long periods without activity whilst they set eggs. Keeping her in a brooder with the chicks after hatch instead of her being able to run around and forage and dust bath and teach the chicks all that they need to learn is not a healthy environment for her. I would urge you to consider letting your next broody hen raise her chicks within the flock. It is a much healthier environment for them and no issues with integration at a later date. It means that they are exposed to the soil and coccidia from a very early age and build up immunity from day one. They are generally much hardier and resistant to illness as a result.

My reason for not keeping the chicks in the main coop is because they would be unable to access the food and water the way I have it set up and they need chick starter as opposed to layer feed so I'd need to put chick starter in the coop, which the other hens view as a treat and would eat most of it.

We started integration of her back into the flock a few days prior by letting her free range with the rest of the flock, then I added her back to the coop in the morning while they all had access to the run.

 

[rebrascora]

Just for future information, I rig up a cage with the chicks food and water in. I chock it up on bricks so that the chicks can duck underneath and get their feed but the bigger girls can't. I put the broody and chicks in the cage for the first few days so she shows them how and where to eat and then let them out. The chicks can run back under when they want food and all can be kept together. A little bit of layer will not harm the chicks if their broody gets it out of the main feeder and breaks it up for them or you could feed the whole flock chick crumble (preferably non medicated) as it will not harm the older hens provided they have access to a bowl of crushed oyster shell to top up their calcium levels as they need it.
Of course I should have suggested that having a necropsy done on the broody would have helped identify the cause of death or even cutting her open and doing one yourself can be surprisingly enlightening if you are not squeamish.