[princesslayer]

Our hen has been sitting on six eggs for a week now and has started looking pretty ropey. She has food and water next to her head (she ate some when in first put it in).  I've not seen her get up. She has a pile of poo under her which we've now removed and will give her a bum wash, or she'll get maggots.  Her comb is a very sickly colour but she's bright and give me a good pecking when I go in.

Should I make her get up every day? Put her outside for a bit? Move her food away so she has to get up for it? Leave her alone?

I don't want to disturb her sitting but she seems very determined to not move at all!!

Any tips welcome.

[Marches Farmer]

She's clearly not going to hatch the eggs and if she had she'd have been back on a full food and water regime three weeeks ago.  I think you can see the problem here - she's probably very underweight and possibly anaemic and dehydrated.  I would immediately take her out of wherever she is, check her for lice, and put her in something like a puppy cage, with feed and water, in a breezy place but shaded from the sun.  This should get her mind off being broody.  Put her, still in the cage, under cover in a safe place overnight.  In the morning try scattering some grain on the ground in front of the cage and let her out.  She'll probably have forgotten all about broodiness.  If not, repeat for a further day and try again.  Don't put her back with the rest of the hens until she's regained some weight and her comb is red again or she'll be bullied and pecked.

[Eve]

[size=78%][/size]Like Marches Farmer says, she'll be anaemic and dehydrated. [size=78%][/size]Start with dipping her beak in water and try getting her to eat some scrambled eggs, don't worry about having to disturb her as she'll be straight back in her broody trance afterwards. [/size]Whether to break her broodiness or not depends on whether there are any chicks due or if you could get her some day olds very soon.


Is it that she has a second lot of hatching eggs after the first didn't hatch and they are due any day now? [/font]

[Clarebelle]

I read that she has been sitting on a clutch of 6 eggs for a week, did you guys think it was 6 weeks?

Just pick her up and place her on the ground next to the nest, mine usually then run off, grab some food and then get back on.

[princesslayer]

Thanks Clarebelle, yes I want the eggs to hatch and she's only been on them for a week. She's just a very determined sitter I think. I want to look after her but still have her sit until the time is out. The other chickens have no access to her. Does she need daylight? She's tucked her nest away in a corner.

[Marches Farmer]

Sorry, I misunderstood on the length of time she'd been sitting.  They do go pale in the comb when not laying but if you're unhappy with her condition I'd try to break her of broodiness.  She'll prefer a quiet, dark corner for brooding.  If she has another two weeks of sitting then four or five of caring for chicks she'll be going into Autumn as she's recovering.  We can have very harsh Winters here and I break broodiness of hens from this month on, or they're just not fit and fat enough for Winter.

[bloomer]

Mine get very determined, I work on the theory if they cantatas me they are fine...

The messing in the nest is unusual, that's the one reason mine get up and go outside...

Mine hardly eat at all for the 3 weeks and come through fine...

[Eve]

Somehow both Marches Farmer and I read 'six weeks' 


I've just had one of those I'm-not-moving broodies, taking her off the nest would only result in her shooting back to her eggs within seconds. Still worth persevering with trying to get her to eat though, as this broody of mine ate two of her eggs (and I know they were fertile).
Her chicks hatched two days ago and she's eating and drinking like normal again.




Now why does the font on my postings keep changing? 

[princesslayer]

Thanks all, I'll try and get her up and about a bit in the mornings then let her go back on. I only have four hens so I can coddle her a bit.