Hen acting broody, breast feathers mostly gone, red streaks on skin, smells bad

[Animalfisherwoman]

I have a hen, 2 to 2.5 years old. Three days ago she started acting broody but no egg came out. Her tail was up. When I took her out of the box, we found that she was missing most of her breast feathers and the skin had red streaks in it. The area smelled like infection that permeated our clothing. I do not have pictures yet but am hoping for advice based on what I've written.

We have put her in a hospital cage, administered vetricyn spray and nutridrench. I went into her cloacal opening with a finger and felt no egg there. She has laid three poops with form, fairly large ones, didn't see any blood or worms in it. She is eating and drinking, comb looks normal. We also admined 200 mg of erythromycin (fish supply) in her feed.

She has now been in the hospital cage 22 hours. I moved this to the shed as flies were starting to bother her. She's still exhibiting the "broody" stance, body spread out, tail up but hasn't laid.

ETA: Just went out there again, gave her another epsom bath soaking the butt and sprayed her breast belly area with vetracyn. The smell is gone and she appears to have eaten most of the feed that I placed the antibiotics in. Checked her vent with a finger again and didn't find an egg in there. She almost immediately went back to broody stance with tail up once back in the hospital cage.
What should I do next?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Has she ever been broody before? Usually they are frantic to get back in their nest.

Do you mean egg bound? Not likely if she is pooping. Broody's don't lay eggs. And they don't require eggs to go broody or stay that way. The hormones stop that and decreases intake and metabolism... concentrating poo so she only has to relieve herself once or twice per day and not mess on the eggs.

How does the vent look? Any signs of lice or mites?

For what it's worth... only round worms and tape worms will ever be seen in droppings and only under heavy load. All others will stay in the intestines and only their microscopic (not visible to the naked eye) oocysts (eggs) will pass in droppings. If you wanna know the truth you've got to get a fecal float done to tell you if you have anything and how heavy the count is, if you need to treat and what you should treat with for the specific parasitic species.

Based on what you've written... I would move to using a broody breaker (no bedding) instead of a hospital cage... since she is eating and drinking and you don't describe any lethargy, IF you aren't gonna let her hatch any chicks or adopt her some. If you are gonna give her chicks, keep her cleaned up well enough to not be infected and wait a couple weeks and tuck them under her at night.

Nutri drench is a great product for occasional use. I might skip the antibiotics in feed... if it isn't the right dose for the right period of time against the correct bacteria, we are just creating resistance and making issues worse. Our bodies and theirs both produce antibodies every day. Maybe offer something probiotic instead to support her own immune system. Hope she is well!

 

[coach723]

If you don't want her to sit, then you will need to break her. There are several ways to try, I find the most effective to be 'chicken jail'. A wire crate, lifted off the ground so air can circulate all around her. No bedding of any kind, just food and water. She stays there until she changes her mind. It will often take a couple of days, I've had them hold out for a week. Once they are no longer broody they can go back to the flock. You may try several times only to have her go back to the nest box, then she goes back to jail for another day.

 

[coach723]

I'm not sure I entirely understand your question.
They need to stay in the crate until they are no longer broody, if she has access to the nest box she will go back in and sit again and you will have to start over. The crate needs to be in a place that is predator proof while she's in it so that she's safe. Mine go in my enclosed run which is locked at night and predator proof, I cover the crate with a blanket or sheet at night. If your run, or where ever you have her, is not predator proof then you will need to move the crate to a safe place at night, and move it back out in the morning. I hope that answers what you wanted to know.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

if we keep her in the cage will she just keep "squatting up" thus allowing the area to dry out/heal?

I think so.

Every situation can present differently and so it's a constant learning process with individual immune system and personalities of the hens and such.

There could be something more going on... like internal laying or egg yolk peritonitis or kindey/liver issue that is making her uncomfortable. If you want to post pick it MIGHT tell a different story than broody.

Since you've got the stink gone and she doesn't *seem* bound, I might stop the baths. But if she is relaxing and enjoying them as some hens do, and you have the energy then it probably isn't hurting. I probably wouldn't probe anymore either since you haven't found anything yet.

Inflamed skin underneath IS often the evidence of bugs... but lets see how it goes! And maybe you will get some more input from someone with different experience than me also.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

I'm not sure I entirely understand your question.
They need to stay in the crate until they are no longer broody, if she has access to the nest box she will go back in and sit again and you will have to start over. The crate needs to be in a place that is predator proof while she's in it so that she's safe. Mine go in my enclosed run which is locked at night and predator proof, I cover the crate with a blanket or sheet at night. If your run, or where ever you have her, is not predator proof then you will need to move the crate to a safe place at night, and move it back out in the morning. I hope that answers what you wanted to know.

It exactly does! The crate is in the yard where the flock hangs out but we can move her to a smaller chicken jail for the night(s). BTW, she's an Isa Brown. Never thought she'd be the first one to go broody or so difficult to break.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Yep that crazy clucking is textbook broody.
How old is this hen? Has she ever been broody before? Good times....
What I do is place the crate right in the middle of the pen during the day. She has food and water and the sun can’t get to her. Sounds like you have a similar set up. Do not let her out with any kind of access to the pen or nest box!
Then lock her up at night as you’ve done and move her again to in sight of the others the next morning. You’ve got to probably get four straight days of not letting her out and at the end of those four days her clucking getting less and less to even start to think she’s broken. I do make sure the hens feet get a break by periodically having the kids take her out to the garage to stretch her legs. She cannot have access to nest boxes at all. Once a couple of days passes, I let the hen free range with the rest of the hens in the evening. I block any access to the pen/nest boxes, and if she becomes frantic to get into the nest box instead of free ranging with the rest, it’s to bed in the garage in the crate we go. I like to try to have the broody hen in sight of the others during the day, it’s easier to reintegrate later.
Someone once told me, broody hens will do their best to make you feel really bad and that is the truth!
The way I know that the hen is starting to come out of broodiness is they stop making that clucking sound while they are in the crate. Also, they stop puffing up and screaming in the crate. And they stand up more and not lay down still trying to keep their breast warm. Also, you can feel their breast and it’s not ultra hot. But mostly a good indicator is slowly over days stopping that clucking sound.
The good news is typically this doesn’t go on longer than three weeks, the laying/hatching cycle. And you will learn with this hen when she likes to go broody and what the sign are for her, and in my experience one hen only goes broody twice a year at most, usually in my experience spring and early summer.
Once she’s not broody, just make sure she’s eating and drinking and dust bathing and a good bath is in order. Check for lice/mites. Change the nest box liner.
Try not letting her out at all, or if you let her out to stretch it’s for a short period of time, totally outside the pen.
Some hens, even being in sight of the coop, they will continue to be broody, so if the broody behavior doesn’t lessen within a few days of having no access to a nest box, you may have to move her out of sight totally from the coop and other hens.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Whatever circulates air under her. You can also put the jail up on a couple of 2x4s or some bricks.
Can u post a pic of the jail set up?

 

[coach723]

in my experience one hen only goes broody twice a year at most

I have one hen that will go broody 4 or 5 times a spring/summer/fall sometimes. Warm season is long in Florida.
Averages are made to be broken with chickens. I obviously don't let her sit every time, so the jail gets used a lot for her. I had 3 hens go broody at the same time this spring already. Having extra crates pays off. It was just too hot to let any of them sit this time around.
Be patient, she will eventually change her mind, some can be VERY stubborn.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

Good news, I let her out around noon and she didn't even go for the nest boxes. As I said they're integrated with the roosting coop, so if I can catch her tonight I'll put her in the breaker night cage. We're going out of town unexpectedly for a week after so if she remains broody, I guess we will know what to do.