Diarrhea, fatigue and trembling in broody PLEASE HELP!! URGENT

[zowieyellowflame]

My broody hen is sitting on i assume 4 chicks now and some eggs. Last night, i had my hand under her (i should leave her alone!) but right at that moment she had explosive diarrhea right in the nest. I cleaned it up best I could and left her alone.
This morning, she is turned around so her behind faces outward, she is trembling like she is cold and her head is low, from what I can see. It has been raining and cold for 2 or 3 days now. Do you think she could be sick? Would a heater in the coop help to dry and warm the air a bit? Is there anything I can give her? I am worried about her and her babies.

 

[dlhunicorn]

brooding eggs can be extremely hard on a bird if they do not eat and drink sufficiently while doing so (and they often dont). How lang ago did those chickies hatch? Do you have water and feed within easy reach of where she is sitting/ If not do so ...
What I do for my brooding birds is slice a watermelen (small one) or cantelope in half and scoop out an indentation and put their feed the that (in addition to providing a water souce) and put a dollop of live culture yogurt on top... the feed is moist ( helping against dehydration) and the red color of the melon will encourage them to peck. Use chick crumble now instead of her normal feed as the chicks are going to be pecking at it too.
the feed stays in the melon reducing a mess in the nest.
ETA: I asked about how long ago did those chickies hatch as I allow my bird two days to hatch the eggs and then pitch the rest (unless I am sure one is eminantly going to hatch ) as your bird will continue to sit the eggs (neglecting the chicks) > you need to remove them and then she will get on with her "mom" duties.

 

[Judy]

I agree, I would get her out of the nest this morning, and see that she eats and starts teaching the chicks to eat, or you can point the food and water out to the chicks yourself to get her started. It sounds like she needs the food and water worse than the chicks do right now, but hopefully she will eat to teach them how.

Broodies can starve themselves to death.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

One chick Saturday morning, 2 saturday night and one last night. She was a broody at one point with 24 eggs. Other hens keep laying with her. I have been candling and slowly removing the eggs that are just in the very beginning. I am having trouble deciding what to do with the solid ones though, or solid with an air space. I can't see any movement, or veins, just darkness. no peeps either. I would love to get rid of the eggs, I just dont know, they could be 18 or 20 day old eggs. I dont know.
My hen has been eating fine, I gave her some water up to her beak last night and she drank. She not likely has been drinking well. I will give some melon. Could she be contagious? Should I quarantine her?

 

[dlhunicorn]

birds need to drink/eat constantly and not just at "set" times of the day... I believe the problem is nutritional.
either make alternative arrangements for those chickies if you are going to allow her to sit the rest of the eggs or "finish" brooding the eggs yourself in an incubator and let mama get on with caring for the chickies she has.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

Ok, I will take action this morning. It is better to focus on the mama and already hatched chicks than the maybe eggs.
I just checked on her again, another hen was trying to get in there to lay an egg so I put up a screen. (mama and chicks can still get food and water) I will just keep this up until that hen lays an egg.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

What about the heater? Today it is only 14 c or 58 f and wet. Right now, mama is doing nothing but keeping the chicks warm. it is too cold for any lessons. The heater might make it feel better for her and them.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
You could try it. My hen raised a chick in much colder temps than that last year. The chicks will run around a bit, run under mama to get warm, then run around a bit again.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

I got her drinking a lot of water and eating mash out of my hand. One thing I noticed though...... she starts to shake, turns tail outward and then it seems like she is trying to either lay an egg or use the bathroom...... feathers move in and out around butt area. While she was doing this once, a bit of.... pee squirted out. Is she ok you think?

 

[dlhunicorn]

As I explained above she is torn between two different duties... sitting the eggs or caring for the chicks...
either let her sit and you care for the chickies or take the eggs away and put them in an incubator. She is hungry tired and stressed.
Do not allow the other birds into her nest area... fence it off or something for the next couple weeks or they will lay in there again and she will again attempt to sit the eggs.