RIR Brooding again

[crealbilly]

I have another RIR brooding - shes been sitting on eggs about 10 days now. And shes not looking so good. Weak, comb is pink instead of red and flopped over. This happened to me this spring with another RIR hen, she sat and would not get up to eat and drink, she starved her self to death

I have my son coming over to help me get her out of the nest box and I'm going fo feed her with a eye dropper, then sit her back in the nest box.

Any ideas why this is happening with my RIRs? They are heritage RIR not the production ones.

Best i can tell shes sitting on 7 eggs.

 

[RodNTN]

I would remove all of the eggs and put her in a broody cage. Get a cage with a wire bottomed cage and and put her in it and give her food and water. You can let her out to range once or twice a day. If she runs back to the nest put her back in the broody cage. As for the comb, that's normal for a broody hen to lose her comb color since she doesn't get out as often. If you want her to hatch eggs but she won't get up to eat get her out of the nest and put her in the yard (or run, whichever is allowed.) If you don't want her to starve to death, break her of her broodiness. I hope this helps!

 

[crealbilly]

I would remove all of the eggs and put her in a broody cage. Get a cage with a wire bottomed cage and and put her in it and give her food and water. You can let her out to range once or twice a day. If she runs back to the nest put her back in the broody cage. As for the comb, that's normal for a broody hen to lose her comb color since she doesn't get out as often. If you want her to hatch eggs but she won't get up to eat get her out of the nest and put her in the yard (or run, whichever is allowed.) If you don't want her to starve to death, break her of her broodiness. I hope this helps!

I just built a removable cage around her, with a removable sliding floor for easy cleaning. I put food and water in the cage yesterday and i noticed she eat and drank - so im feeling better about her brooding now.

 

[RodNTN]

Thats great!

 

[crealbilly]

Very odd... i found this today inside the cage, but no lil chick. It was outside the nest box were no other chicken can get to. I checked the eggs shes been sitting on and they are still all there.

So what happened did she lay a egg and decided to eat it? Im at a loss...

 

[redguinea]

She might of needed come nutrients so pecked an egg. It doesnt look a chick hatched out as the egg would be cracked all the way around and there would be evidence of blood/membrane etc. I would candle the remaining eggs and see if there are any with chicks inside then place then either under another hen or in an incubator so see can get better.
Dont mean to offend but I dont think you have hertiage RIRs, she does not look dark/big enough.

 

[crealbilly]

She might of needed come nutrients so pecked an egg. It doesnt look a chick hatched out as the egg would be cracked all the way around and there would be evidence of blood/membrane etc. I would candle the remaining eggs and see if there are any with chicks inside then place then either under another hen or in an incubator so see can get better.
Dont mean to offend but I dont think you have hertiage RIRs, she does not look dark/big enough.

:Lol Your not going to offend me. Ive been married to the same woman for 31 years and raised 11 kids. There is nothing you could say or do to offend me - ive heard it all and have some pretty thick skin

So when I puchased these RIR chicks, I explicitly specified Heritage RIR. You think I got Production RIRs instead? This could explain why im having such difficulties with these chickens.

 

[redguinea]

If you could post some more pics of your other birds it would give a good indication. Rhode islands do go broody but I find it not to be constant. Out of 30 birds in my breeding pen I have one broody at the moment and in spring I'll probably have one or two more. The crosses or production reds can be unpredictable, I have some in my egg laying yard and I have had two go broody which isnt what they are supposed to do.

Here is the hen brooding at the moment.

 

[crealbilly]

If you could post some more pics of your other birds it would give a good indication. Rhode islands do go broody but I find it not to be constant. Out of 30 birds in my breeding pen I have one broody at the moment and in spring I'll probably have one or two more. The crosses or production reds can be unpredictable, I have some in my egg laying yard and I have had two go broody which isnt what they are supposed to do.

Here is the hen brooding at the moment.

Shes got that determined trance look.

Here a pic of one of my RIR hens and the roo. I sure would like ro know if they are production or heritage RIRs'. I ordered heritage.

 

[redguinea]

Yep, shes a bit agressive at the moment!
The rooster doesnt look like he has the correct shape and colour. The hen is darker which is closer to the hertiage colour. Would need some closer pics. But looking like productions.
Did you get them from a hatchery?