What to feed broody hen to keep her alive

[Morrisbacon]

My hen just turned broody and won’t eat. I’m terrified she won’t make the 21 days. What can I do to inspire eating and drinking bare minimum?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

My hen just turned broody and won’t eat. I’m terrified she won’t make the 21 days. What can I do to inspire eating and drinking bare minimum?

Concoct tasty dishes of protein and fat. Scrambled eggs, yogurt, greens, chicken food, plain tuna, whatever she likes. Drinking and eating.....pull her off the nest once a day, get her the food and water, and return her when she’s done. The eggs will be fine up to nearly an hour.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

My hen just turned broody and won’t eat. I’m terrified she won’t make the 21 days. What can I do to inspire eating and drinking bare minimum?

Are you sure she's not eating? Broody hens get off the nest once a day to eat, drink, ect., then return to the nest after about 20 minutes. Sometimes you don't see them.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

My hen just turned broody and won’t eat. I’m terrified she won’t make the 21 days. What can I do to inspire eating and drinking bare minimum?

Some broodies won't get off the nest. I had to manually evict mine twice a day up til 2 days before her babies hatched. She'd do a massive broody poop, run around screeching like a banchee, eat, drink, dust bath, then cluck herself back into her nest all under 8 minutes. Just be gentle and make sure she doesn't have any eggs in her wings when you remove her.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've seen a broody hen leave her nest twice a day for over an hour each time, weather was pretty hot. In colder weather I've seen a broody leave her nest once a day for about 15 minutes. Both had good hatches. With most of my broody hens I hardly ever see them off the nest but I know they are coming off since they don't poop in the nest. Basically I don't worry about it because it hasn't been a problem. But you are dealing with living animals, anything can happen. It is certainly possible she is not getting up.

Before a hen even starts laying eggs she stores up excess fat. I've butchered enough pullets and hens to verify that. Most of the excess fat is in a fat pad in the pelvic region but it can be scattered around. This fat is what a broody hen mostly lives on while she is broody so she can spend her time on the nest instead of having to be out looking for food. She will lose weight while broody but that's fat put there for that purpose. The more she eats and drinks the longer that fat will last.

How are you keeping her? Is she incubating with the flock or do you have her isolated? That might help suggest a way forward. Mine incubate with the flock so she can come and go as she wishes. I mark the eggs I give her so I can tell at a glance which belong. I check under her once a day after the others have laid to remove any that don't belong. As long as it is daylight you could set her on the floor or even in the run to give her a chance to grab a bite to eat and get a drink. Typically mine sit on the floor a few seconds and hen either run out to eat and drink or move back to the nest.

Yours is a pretty common question on here, especially people the first time with a broody hen. The majority of the time the hen is getting off the nest to eat and drink, they just don't see them. But I'm not going not say it can't happen, just that I've never experienced it.