[RosiesWalk]

My hen first went broody towards the end of July.  We followed advice, putting her out each meal time for food and water, and to be fair she would stay out for 20 minutes or so.  Then when the broodiness continued, we started to close up the hen house during the day (once all the laying was done) so that she was forced to stay out.

I have very happily noticed over the last couple of weeks that she is coming out of her own accord in the mornings for breakfast before returning to her nesting box.  Working full time I haven't had much chance to see my hens in the daylight this week, but this morning I was shocked to find that my broody hen has yellow legs, a shrunken yellow comb and a yellow face.  She seems ok in herself, happy to eat and be picked up, good solid poo with white bit.

I've put tonic in the water.  Is there anything else I can do?  I've searched online and been through my hen books, but to no avail.

P.S. They've all had Flubenvet for the past 7 days.

[Lindeggs]

What breed is your hen?  Some hens have naturally yellow skin so the yellowness itself may not be the problem.  But if you've just noticed the yellowness then it could be because the redness in her comb and wattles has faded.

I would suggest two remedies:

1)  Strongly discourage her from being broody.  It sounds like she has been broody for a long time, so hasn't been eating and drinking well.  The tonic in her water may help, but she really needs to be getting her full ration of feed every day, and if she's sitting on a nest she won't be motivated to eat and drink.

2)  Treat her, her flock-mates and their housing for parasites.  The worming will get rid of internal parasites, but a broody hen is very vulnerable to lice and mites.  The nasty little blood-suckers can result in her becoming very run down and anaemic.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on. 

[RosiesWalk]

Thanks for your advice! Ten days on and the yellow is fading, and she is absolutely cured of her broodiness, enjoying being out and about and eating plenty!  Now moulting dramatically.  I will indeed treat them all for lice etc.  Thank you!

[Lindeggs]

Glad to hear she's on the mend.

[sneezer]

This happened to my ex-free range hen when she went broody and stopped laying her legs went yellow, her comb also shrank,her comb grew as soon as she started to lay however the legs are still yellow (she is now in retirement and doesn't lay), someone suggested on here maybe the colouring in the layers pellets were to blame as this wasn't going in the egg it went into her skin? Glad she is out and about

[Casey76]

I don't know if you know this, but hens with yellow legs actually use this colour to produce the colour for the yolk of the egg!

Over the course of a laying season, a hen with yellow legs will get paler and paler legs, then the colour comes back when they are not laying.

Also the colour and size of the comb is effected.  So even a mature hen not in lay will have a smaller and paler comb than when she is in lay.  Broody hens often come out of the "other side" with smaller pale combs, and as soon as she is alying again they get larger and redder again, a sign to the cockerel that she is able to be bred.