Help us figure this out?

[rebrascora]

Hi

Did you do anything to break her broodiness last year? It is not good for them to just sit being broody for weeks or months with no hope of eggs hatching. They lose a lot of condition and they can be at risk of slow crop or partial impaction as well as their immune system running low.
Have you checked her crop function? Is it completely empty first thing on a morning before she has had access to food? Crop problems are one of the commonest causes of weight loss along with bullying. If the latter is the problem, then at least it is easily remedied. As well as giving her lots of special healthy treats like eggs, meat(liver is very good for them) fish and/or meal worms, a vitamin supplement like Poultry Nutri Drench may help to give her system a boost.

 

[tash]

Her crop was mostly empty according to my daughter this morning when she let them out. They always have food in the coop. When she let the others out she then made sure this hen got food until she stopped and my daughter said it seemed pretty full (she said 80%). Then she made the hen go free range with the others. We also have added a vitamin/probiotic to the water. They seem to like it.

We tried to break her broodyness, but it didn't seem to work. We are building a bigger coop which will have an isolation area which will have an optional 'broody floor' for breaking broodies. This year if she does it we have chicks on order for late June so we can give her them, but I kinda doubt she will this year.