Not an emergency, questions about sudden death.

[ClaraCluckChicken]

Hello- our chicken, “Broody Judy”, finally hatched her first chicks 2.5 weeks ago. Everything was going great until she randomly died overnight. It looks like she just put her head down while laying over babies and died. The chicks were happily clucking around her when we came out this morning. We are guessing heart attack or stroke?? Is there anything that makes suddenly dropping dead more common for broody/mama hens? Any worries we should have for our orphan chicks dying now?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Unless another broody hen adopts them (unlikely) you need to set up a brooder asap. Sorry this happened. I don’t know the reason but brooding takes a lot out of a hen. How long was she broody before the chicks hatched?

 

[ClaraCluckChicken]

Unless another broody hen adopts them (unlikely) you need to set up a brooder asap. Sorry this happened. I don’t know the reason but brooding takes a lot out of a hen. How long was she broody before the chicks hatched?

We moved them into our brooder in the garage right away. I think they miss the outside though!

About four days after we noticed she was broody it dawned on us we could give her a different hens eggs (that are fertilized) it was about exactly 21 days when they hatched. Then 2.5 weeks after they hatched, she died. She was 3.5 years old.

 

[DonyaQuick]

That sounds like just some bummer luck. If she was eating and drinking, then like you said probably just a heart attack or stroke. May have been an existing cardiovascular situation building up that was tipped over the edge by the broody strain.

Unless you've seen some other symptom in the works to suggest illness in the late broody or in other hens she was around previously, I wouldn't think there's any increased risk of problems for the babies. Chicks sometimes get abandoned early by perfectly healthy broody hens and do fine as long as they still get the heat, food, and water they need.

 

[Eggcessive]

Were the chicks with her around the other chickens in the flock before she died? I had a broody abandon her chicks around 2 weeks old, and they had already been part of the flock, learning to forage for food and get water. They hung in a group going everywhere together, roosting first inna nest box their broody had showed them, and later they all 5 roosted on the lower roost together. They successfully thrived in the flock into adulthood.

She might have been weak or undernourished from being broody. If you need to keep the chicks in a brooder until they are fully feathered, just watch for symptoms of coccidiosis or other issues. Make sure they are eating and drinking. Add aome probiotics a couple of days a week. I hope they make it.