Very thin broody hen - chicks soon!

[maralions]

Hello everyone,

I have a hen who is currently sitting on eggs - we got her three fertilized ones because she wanted to be a mummy so badly and wouldn't stop being broody. This was 20 days ago so the chicks are expected soon. She is third generation so we've had naturally hatched chicks before.

I am worried about her because she looks terrible - she had been broody for a couple of months before this and we'd done many things to try and get her to come off, both temporarily and permanently. She is very thin and pale and quite wobbly on the legs when scratching. Currently she races off the nest each morning and dashes around frantically, eats and drinks a little and then races back onto the nest. She's like a mad aunt in the attic.

Any ideas on what we could feed her to build her up that would also be suitable to have around the chicks (we will have crumbs for them too)? We have a flock of four (including her mother) who are totally spoilt - they have sunflower seed hearts mixed with grain and won't eat pellets. However they're mostly free range so don't eat that much food from us as they're too busy ranging and finding bugs and they're very happy. She'll be separate from the flock as she gets bullied (mostly by the mum). Our other mothers didn't lose much condition on the nest.

I'm in the UK fyi.

Thanks everyone

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Check her over for mites, being wobbly is more a sign of something else wrong, I would scramble up some eggs for her, lots of protein, and black oil sunflower seeds for fat.

 

[junebuggena]

Chick starter is good for getting a broody hen back into good condition.

 

[Folly's place]

I feed broodies and their chicks a chick feed; here it's Purina's Flock Raiser, 20% protein, an all- flock feed. She's malnourished from trying to brood too long, and also check for mites and maybe powder her if there's any doubt. Good luck! Mary