Mother hen

[miklaj]

Hello,
For the second year we have hatched chicks from under our hens!
Great success, two beautiful chicks!!
I'm a bit worried about mother hen thou!!
She doesn't seem to be able to stand up for long, the chicks hatched yesterday!
Is this because of lack of energy? Or is this normal nesting for first few days ?
Our other hen who hatched last year was up and about stretching her legs as soon as all eggs were hatched ?
Any ideas ??

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Aww sorry about your hen! Since hens spend so much time on the nest while incubating, they lose energy and strength. She is probably very weak. Feed and water her well. You may even want to try some probiotics and herbs to restore her.

 

[miklaj]

Hi thank u for your response, I have been going out every two hours, offering water and food, what food would u recommend for her to build her up, and what herbs, sorry this a bit new to me, but on recommendations I will go our and buy Tom!
Gloria, mother hen means so much to me, I rescued her and she is blind in one eye!!
She is lovely girl, a real family pet, gets cuddles with children so will do my very best for her !!

 

[JJSS89]

I would offer electrolyte/probiotics in the water and some fruits. She might not be able to handle rougher foods right now so maybe stay away from scratch grains and keep it to water soluble feed and fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe.

 

[miklaj]

Oh good, I've fed her melon, she is eating a bit of the chick crumb and I will by her probiotics for her water Tom !
Thank you for your help !!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Yes the probiotics and electrolytes are great in water and it will be good for all the other chickens too. Just don't mix them.

 

[JJSS89]

Yeah sorry I skipped that part. I would say that the electrolytes are the most important for now.

Giving her probiotics after a few days will be a great thing because the chicks eat her droppings and that is how they get probiotics. If she starts to get better, I'd say things are going to be fine.