Darlenes Story.

This experience prompted me to write about the ways to ensure a healthy broody hen. That’s the one thing I never considered. I always thought broody hens knew what to do. Ignorance isn’t bliss on my part though. I had read all about their broody behavior, nesting, breaking broodiness, etc. I kept her fed, watered and gave her fruit and vegetable treats. So, I thought I was prepared. But nothing prepared me for what I experienced.

If your like me, I feel broody hens are like gold! I have only one so far and she’s a fantastic mom. The only problem is she’s too good.

Wait, how can a broody be too good of a mother?

Darlene, my Orphington hen wanted to be a mother so bad over the past two years and went broody every month in the summer. This last year the weather was finally warm enough in July and she went broody so I set her up with four eggs. I kept her on our enclosed deck that’s attached to our house with her own special area and we gave her food and water. I also made sure she had to get up and walk to get to the food and water.

She was very committed to those eggs and didn’t get off them every day but I know she did get off them to walk around and stretch her legs because I had to clean up her broody poop.

I kept her clean and thought I was doing a good job with her. She was even up and walking around a few days before her eggs hatched. I only saw her get off her eggs a few times and not for very long so I wasn’t sure how often she was getting up for exercise because I couldn’t catch her in the act.

After her eggs hatched, she didn’t get up at all. Instead she was scooting around on her haunches and having no experience with this it didn’t occur to me she couldn’t get up. I saw her eating with her babies so I thought she was ok but I never saw her stand up.

After a week of this, I picked her up and examined her. To my horror, she was bony, malnourished and too weak to stand. The joints at the top of her legs were raw from scooting. I had never heard of this happening!

We instantly brought her and the babies into the house. Brian rigged up a sling for her in a tote with ready access to food and water. She ate and drank constantly for days. I fixed her scrambled eggs for breakfast, picked greens from the garden, and gave her strawberries and pieces of apple. I gave her multi-vitamins and B12 in her water. Her babies were in their own clear tote so they could all see and hear each other. She was fine knowing her babies were close. I’d take her outside everyday it wasn’t raining so she could be in the sunshine and talk to the other chickens through the fence.

Over the following few months she gained most of her weight back but she still couldn’t walk. Brian made her a walker and I worked on her ability to stand and balance when she got her strength back.

The sores on her hocks eventually healed and now six months later, she still can’t walk on her own, but she’s healthy and is very mobile in her walker.

I haven’t given up on Darlene by any means. She lives in the house full time and has been incorporated into the household. Her injuries were severe and she still experiences pain in one of her legs but she loves to get out of her walker to stand on her own to preen and have treats. She tries to walk but I’m always close by to help her because she falls. The farm vet told us the pain is from the injury and she is on a light arthritis medication to help with the pain and inflammation. She’ll never be one hundred percent but she’ll have a full and happy life with us. What happens if she goes broody next summer? I don’t know but she’s a wild woman when she is!! I’ll keep you posted.

What Normally Happens

This is not a normal scenario for broody hens as far as I know and I’ve never been able to find an article of anyone whose experienced this. I’ve heard some broodies experience stiffness in their legs when they get up to walk but normally nothing like what we experienced with Darlene, so don’t panIc. Normally, they sit on their eggs, get up and eat and take a dirt bath. At the end of three weeks, the eggs hatch and mom starts teaching and raising her chicks. That being said, it’s always a good idea to check on her daily.

Ensure A Healthy Broody Hen

The best way to insure the health of your broody hen while she’s incubating her eggs :

• Make sure she has a multivitamin supplement and B12
• Make sure she takes a break from the nest to preen, take a dust bath or to eat and drink at least once a day
• Give her extra protein in addition to her regular food and treats in the form of mealworms, fish, scrambled eggs, etc. The protein, the vitamins and her regular food will keep her body nourished and her muscles and bones strong.
• Getting her off the nest at least once a day for exercise. It refreshes her body and mind. It also keeps her legs from stiffening up.

Last but not least, check your broody hen every few days to make sure she’s keeping her weight on. They don’t tend to eat much and a certain amount of weight loss is to be expected but you can tell the difference. You can feel her breast muscles (if she’ll let you) to gauge whether she’s eating enough.

In an extreme case like ours, Darlene literally starved herself in favor of tending her eggs. Then she injured her hock joints scooting because she was too weak to get up to care for her chicks properly.

All of this may seem like your having to babysit but it really isn’t that much work and it’s important for her health to keep up these little daily activities.

Like I mentioned earlier. Broody hens are valuable (like gold) and make a valuable contribution to the farm and homestead.

Darlene is a really good mother. I learned a hard lesson that to have a broody hen on a nest hatching her eggs means I also need to monitor her health.

Broodiness Is Hormonal

Broodiness is very hard on hens. Their commitment to their egg hatching when they become broody is something they can’t help. It’s hormonal and drives them to become single minded in wanting to be mothers. Darlene was so single minded and committed, she neglected her own health. That’s where I could have intervened. I read a lot of articles about how broody hens behave and generally nature takes it’s course. I’ve learned from this experience it’s also important to keep a close eye on the process.

Experience The Joys Of Seeing your Broody Hen Hatch Her Eggs

Letting your broody hen hatch her eggs is an experience I encourage every chicken keeper to have. My experience seems to be unique but inspite of it all I would do it again if another one of my hens goes broody. After all, it’s nature, a miracle of life and better than any electric incubator. I’ve decided I’ll lend nature a helping hand by doing my part to keep my broody hen healthy.

If you want to read more about what I’m doing for Darlene, see my blog post Now What? My Broody Hatched Eggs And Can’t Stand!