Help! I think my hen is sick.

[Dixiechicks2020]

Help! My hen's wattles and comb are very pale and I am worried she is sick. She is a Wellsummer. She has been broody for about 6 weeks. She is now sitting on two eggs for about 14 days and we expect them to hatch around January 8th. She is eating and drinking. I have her separated from the flock except for the day when I open her brooder because she wants to forage with the flock. She also has bare spoon her head from ear to ear. I thought she may be getting pecked at. Is she sick or malnutrition? What can I do? This is my first year raising chickens. I got them all in April.

 

[FreckledEggs]

Help! My hen's wattles and comb are very pale and I am worried she is sick. She is a Wellsummer. She has been broody for about 6 weeks. She is now sitting on two eggs for about 14 days and we expect them to hatch around January 8th. She is eating and drinking. I have her separated from the flock except for the day when I open her brooder because she wants to forage with the flock. She also has bare spoon her head from ear to ear. I thought she may be getting pecked at. Is she sick or malnutrition? What can I do? This is my first year raising chickens. I got them all in April.

Can we have pics? Hen's combs tend to go white during winter or when they are broody and when they are older and have stopped laying - it tells the roo not to mate with them as they can not at the moment. (It will happen when sick, but she's broody so don't be worried).

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

Can we have pics? Hen's combs tend to go white during winter or when they are broody and when they are older and have stopped laying - it tells the roo not to mate with them as they can not at the moment. (It will happen when sick, but she's broody so don't be worried).

I'll try to get some pictures for you.

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

Can we have pics? Hen's combs tend to go white during winter or when they are broody and when they are older and have stopped laying - it tells the roo not to mate with them as they can not at the moment. (It will happen when sick, but she's broody so don't be worried).

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

These are a couple pictures of my hen. I just don’t know what to do for her. She hasn’t sat on her eggs today. I don’t know if they’ll even hatch.

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

I went to lock up the coop for the night and it looks like my hen Scarlet has abandoned her eggs. She was foraging all day with the flock and tonight she was roosting with them. Ugg! Does this mean she isn't broody anymore?

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, she probably is not broody. You might want to keep the eggs warm with a heating pad, and borrow an incubator to try and hatch them. But I would candle them first to make sure they are alive. Six weeks is way too long for a chicken to be broody. For one thing, they will starve themselves and become very weak. Also, if they hatch eggs, after that long, they may abandon their chicks way too soon. If I have a hen who goes broody, I break them right away if I don’t want her to hatch eggs. To break one, I put them in a wire dog crate or pen with food and water, but no bedding for about 5 days.

 

[Dixiechicks2020]

Yes, she probably is not broody. You might want to keep the eggs warm with a heating pad, and borrow an incubator to try and hatch them. But I would candle them first to make sure they are alive. Six weeks is way too long for a chicken to be broody. For one thing, they will starve themselves and become very weak. Also, if they hatch eggs, after that long, they may abandon their chicks way too soon. If I have a hen who goes broody, I break them right away if I don’t want her to hatch eggs. To break one, I put them in a wire dog crate or pen with food and water, but no bedding for about 5 days.

Yes, she probably is not broody. You might want to keep the eggs warm with a heating pad, and borrow an incubator to try and hatch them. But I would candle them first to make sure they are alive. Six weeks is way too long for a chicken to be broody. For one thing, they will starve themselves and become very weak. Also, if they hatch eggs, after that long, they may abandon their chicks way too soon. If I have a hen who goes broody, I break them right away if I don’t want her to hatch eggs. To break one, I put them in a wire dog crate or pen with food and water, but no bedding for about 5 days.

What do you think about the bare areas on her head?

 

[Eggcessive]

You could post some pictures. They may be due her starting a molt, which sometimes occurs after a long broody spell, or she may have been feather picked by other chickens.