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

[Sapphire Sebright]

The broody period usually lasts until:
A) She has sat on the eggs for about 28 days, which is about how long it usually takes for an egg to hatch
B) She hatches an egg underneath herself
C) The hen is forcibly broken of her broodiness, by any one of several methods.
Also, I have a broody ISA Brown, too! She's been broody since the Thursday before Mother's day, and she incubated a guinea egg. I really should break her, but I just keep getting distracted. I keep removing her from the nest box and placing her somewhere away from the coop. She looks hilarious when she puffs up as I walk towards her -- she looks like a big walking ball of feathers!
Good luck with your broody.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

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!

Her vent was very dirty but there wasn't evidence of any bugs around it but inflamed skin underneath. I trimmed some of the feathers back there to admin the vetricyn. We can do the fecal float Monday if symptoms persist.

I did mix up another 100 mg of erythro in a syringe feeder, she probably got about half of that. The red streaks on her belly are gone and she no longer smells bad, but she is still acting broody with tail up. The cage we're using is a standard battery cage with a wire floor, I assume to break broodiness. My biggest concern is the inflamed featherless breast/belly area--if we keep her in the cage will she just keep "squatting up" thus allowing the area to dry out/heal?

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

I returned her to the flock yesterday. She's dust bathing, eating, drinking, running around. When I'm not looking she returns to the nest boxes. I've lifted her out of there eight times now in 20 hours. The last time I just put her in a non-preferred nestbox as egg production from the flock has dropped to 1 daily from 6 to 7 daily. How long is this broody period supposed to last?

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

I have implemented the chicken jail. The roosting coop is tied directly to the nesting boxes, which she has been sleeping in. Should I leave her out there tonight?

 

[Kathy Golla]

Hi, you should move her at night somewhere where she’s protected from predators but also where she can sleep and not get startled or scared at night. You want to keep her health up.
I move my broodies wire crate into the garage at night and cover with a sheet.
The longer she’s been broody the longer she’s going to take to break. I give my hens three days in the nest box full time to see if they are truly committed then they go to the broody breaker. If you catch it early it takes three to four days to break.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

Hi, you should move her at night somewhere where she’s protected from predators but also where she can sleep and not get startled or scared at night. You want to keep her health up.
I move my broodies wire crate into the garage at night and cover with a sheet.
The longer she’s been broody the longer she’s going to take to break. I give my hens three days in the nest box full time to see if they are truly committed then they go to the broody breaker. If you catch it early it takes three to four days to break.

Hey Kathy, the chicken jail cage I had was pretty big to move, so what I ended up doing was transferring her back to a standard battery cage with a wire bottom, then putting her in a locked shed. This is the fourth or fifth night since she's started going broody, and she is relentless. Go out, she's pacing in the cage like she wants to rejoin the flock, let her out, she rolls around, eats, poops and then in front of me walks into nest box. I lift her up and put her back in chicken jail. Over and over.

She makes this low "cluck cluck" noise that's constant whether sitting down or not, it's not the same sound the other girls make when laying at all. I also notice she is flexing her vent muscles a lot. If she's doing these things, should I be letting her out of chicken jail or wait until she stops doing that?

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

She's an Isa Brown from the pound that I got a year ago. She was an almost daily layer until this broody business came up, so I'm estimating her age at about 2. Today I walk into the shed to get her, she's being broody right there in the battery cage, stuck her claws into the wire to not come out to be transferred to outdoor chicken jail cage. When I finally got her out there were four other hens in the chicken jail eating her food already. Finally got her situated in there. She's sitting down on the wire being broody again.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She's an Isa Brown from the pound that I got a year ago. She was an almost daily layer until this broody business came up, so I'm estimating her age at about 2. Today I walk into the shed to get her, she's being broody right there in the battery cage, stuck her claws into the wire to not come out to be transferred to outdoor chicken jail cage. When I finally got her out there were four other hens in the chicken jail eating her food already. Finally got her situated in there. She's sitting down on the wire being broody again.

Is the jail elevated so it has air flow? She needs air flow to help cool her.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

Is the jail elevated so it has air flow? She needs air flow to help cool her.

It is but the ground is not even, so parts of the jail are on the ground. I have a bunny hutch, should I be using that instead?

 

[Kathy Golla]

After a while I will put a 2x4 on its side in the breaker for periods of time during the day to break her feet, and let her roost on that at night.
The biggest side effect of the broody breaker imo is it hurts their feet.