Broody hen not eating

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wildy78

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  • Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
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Broody hen not eating
« on: April 17, 2011, 11:41 »
I finally gave in to my broody and brought 6 Welsummer and 6 Barnvelder fertile eggs off a reccommended seller off ebay.  She has sat happily on the eggs for 7 days so far without appearing to venture off the eggs to use the loo nor eat or drink.  I have put food and water in her broody coop, still no movement.  This morning i decided that she needed to move so fed her by hand a bit then picked her off the eggs and placed her in the run.  She happily ate the grapes i gave her, a bit of pellets then back in after a couple of minutes.

She is a silver laced wyandotte.  Do i need to keep doing this everyday to keep her fed and hydrated or do i just leave her to sort herself out?

Noticed yesterday that one of the eggs had been taken from the broody and broken/eaten, she also looks as though she has been chewed on her back and on her comb by something.  Could this be a rat or magpie, access to her pen was difficult.

Either way moved her from the yard to my back garden at home just in case.
1 wife, 1 daughter, 2 dogs, 1 horse, 1 Copper black maran, 1 Cherry Maran, 1 Speckled, 1 Sussex, 1 welsummer, 1 dorking, 1 silver laced wyandotte
6 new arrivals - 3 welsummers 3 barnvelder.
5 more new arrivals (pullets) - white star, fenton blue, fenton rose, plymouth rock, silver sussex

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Casey76

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Re: Broody hen not eating
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2011, 12:23 »
You should lift the hen off the eggs twice a day to allow her to eat, drink and poo.

Some hens are too good, but if she doesn't eat she will lose too much weight over the three weeks.

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wildy78

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Re: Broody hen not eating
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2011, 20:12 »
Thanks Casey  :)

Wasnt too sure if i could.  I have done it a few times now and she does exactly as you said, poos, drinks eats then back on the eggs within a few minutes.



 

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