Is this normal broody behaviour?

[Chickens :)]

hello everyone. I have a broody hen that has been sitting on her eggs for a week now but I have noticed some strange behaviours. There are two other broody hens that I put eggs under at the same time and they are doing really well. They get off the eggs twice a day and eat and drink, the other one though only recently has decided to get off her eggs as I have been making her. Her comb and wattle are both pale while the other girls have a more red colour to theirs. She also is quite skinny which I am presuming is normal because they don’t eat as much. The main problem though is the fact that she is scratching her beak. About 2 days ago I noticed that there was blood just under her nostril on top of her beak. I thought she may have scratched it on the seed so I didn’t think much of it. But today I checked on her and she got off her eggs and had a scratch around but stopped and started scratching just above her beak on both sides. The only way I could stop her was by putting her back on the eggs. Is there something irritating her or is she bored? Any help would be appreciated.
Thankyou

 

[Morrigan]

hello everyone. I have a broody hen that has been sitting on her eggs for a week now but I have noticed some strange behaviours. There are two other broody hens that I put eggs under at the same time and they are doing really well. They get off the eggs twice a day and eat and drink, the other one though only recently has decided to get off her eggs as I have been making her. Her comb and wattle are both pale while the other girls have a more red colour to theirs. She also is quite skinny which I am presuming is normal because they don’t eat as much. The main problem though is the fact that she is scratching her beak. About 2 days ago I noticed that there was blood just under her nostril on top of her beak. I thought she may have scratched it on the seed so I didn’t think much of it. But today I checked on her and she got off her eggs and had a scratch around but stopped and started scratching just above her beak on both sides. The only way I could stop her was by putting her back on the eggs. Is there something irritating her or is she bored? Any help would be appreciated.
Thankyou

It's not normal broody behavior as I have seen it.

My first thought is that she might be suffering from mites or lice. Because they are not dust bathing as much (if at all) and are sitting in straw they are much more susceptible. That would explain the pale comb as well.

Go out tonight and examine her very closely with a flashlight, focusing around her vent and under her wings. Look for tiny moving bugs or clusters of eggs at the base of feather. If she has parasites, she will need to be treated for those asap. A weakened hen can perish under the strain of brooding.

 

[Chickens :)]

It's not normal broody behavior as I have seen it.

My first thought is that she might be suffering from mites or lice. Because they are not dust bathing as much (if at all) and are sitting in straw they are much more susceptible. That would explain the pale comb as well.

Go out tonight and examine her very closely with a flashlight, focusing around her vent and under her wings. Look for tiny moving bugs or clusters of eggs at the base of feather. If she has parasites, she will need to be treated for those asap. A weakened hen can perish under the strain of brooding.

Thankyou I will check her tonight. If she does have mites how should I treat them because I don’t want the chicks to be born under a broody hen that has mites?

 

[Chickens :)]

Is there anything I can give her to give her a bit of a boost in her health??

 

[Morrigan]

If you find mites or lice on her, odds are the whole flock has them, although they may not be as numerous on birds who have been keeping up with the dust bathing. So, you should check the others if you find bugs on your broody.

If you find bugs, there are 2 things you need to do:

First, clean out your coop. Remove and destroy, then replace, all the bedding including whatever is in the broody boxes. If you have mites, you need to wash out the coop with water and then treat the entire coop, with an approved pesticide. In the U.S., the two most common pesticides used for poultry are permethrin (sold under the names Poultry Dust or Garden Dust) and spinosad (sold under the name Elector). If you have lice, removing the bedding and washing the roost bars and nest boxes is probably sufficient. This is because lice live directly on the chicken, and mites live in cracks in the coop and come out at night to feast on the chickens. It's going to be a bit of pain with the broody hens, but its worth the effort. You don't want those bugs chomping on newly hatched chicks.

Second, whether its mites or lice, you need to treat the chickens themselves (I would treat everyone), by spraying or powder puffing (depending on what you are using) them, avoiding their eyes and making sure you get around their vents and under their wings well. If you are dealing with lice, you need to repeat the treatment in 10 days to get any newly hatching lice as the insecticides kill the lice, but not their eggs. I highly recommend treating the birds at night. It is much easier to lift a sleepy bird off the roost treat and replace, then to chase them around the yard.

I'm not sure about the effect of the pesticides on the developing eggs, as some residue is going to get on them from the hens. That is something you may want to research or maybe someone else on here can help with that. My sense is that it should be OK, but I just don't know.

For the hen with the pale comb, I would give her some scrambled eggs to help build her back up.

 

[Chickens :)]

If you find mites or lice on her, odds are the whole flock has them, although they may not be as numerous on birds who have been keeping up with the dust bathing. So, you should check the others if you find bugs on your broody.

If you find bugs, there are 2 things you need to do:

First, clean out your coop. Remove and destroy, then replace, all the bedding including whatever is in the broody boxes. If you have mites, you need to wash out the coop with water and then treat the entire coop, with an approved pesticide. In the U.S., the two most common pesticides used for poultry are permethrin (sold under the names Poultry Dust or Garden Dust) and spinosad (sold under the name Elector). If you have lice, removing the bedding and washing the roost bars and nest boxes is probably sufficient. This is because lice live directly on the chicken, and mites live in cracks in the coop and come out at night to feast on the chickens. It's going to be a bit of pain with the broody hens, but its worth the effort. You don't want those bugs chomping on newly hatched chicks.

Second, whether its mites or lice, you need to treat the chickens themselves (I would treat everyone), by spraying or powder puffing (depending on what you are using) them, avoiding their eyes and making sure you get around their vents and under their wings well. If you are dealing with lice, you need to repeat the treatment in 10 days to get any newly hatching lice as the insecticides kill the lice, but not their eggs. I highly recommend treating the birds at night. It is much easier to lift a sleepy bird off the roost treat and replace, then to chase them around the yard.

I'm not sure about the effect of the pesticides on the developing eggs, as some residue is going to get on them from the hens. That is something you may want to research or maybe someone else on here can help with that. My sense is that it should be OK, but I just don't know.

For the hen with the pale comb, I would give her some scrambled eggs to help build her back up.

Thankyou. I will check all the birds tonight and feed the broodies some scrambled eggs. I really appreciate your help. I will research if the eggs will be affected by the pesticides. I usually use an organic powder when I spot mites but I haven’t checked for a bit so there could possibly be mites on my chooks.

Thanks again

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What is not normal or usual is a sitting hen leaving her clutch twice per day to pig out. A hen who is serious about hatching eggs will sit tight for 3 or 4 days in a row and then depending on the temperature they will spend anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours loafing and feeding their bill.