Mother hen not eating, empty crop

[Emrosenagel]

Hello!

My Cochin hatched three eggs a week and three days ago, and for the first four/five days she seemed to be eating well and pooping big, broody-like poops. But then she stopped eating as much, giving everything to the little ones. Her crop is empty most of the day and her poops are less frequent and mostly urates (white and clear with smaller solid brown poops, I assume it’s because of the lack of food). I know it’s normal for mother hens to do the bare minimum for themselves, and she did this last time she hatched eggs in February, but I still worry. She is also going through a heavy molt to add insult to injury. She isn’t acting sick or lethargic, but she does feel skinnier. I tried giving her scrambled egg but she’s never liked them and everything else she gives to the chicks. What should I do? Nothing?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

You can take the chick crumble and make a mash with Nutri-Drench and see if she will eat that.

 

[Mrs. K]

Nothing is what I would do. She is active, and food is available, she is doing fine. She is going to be skinnier coming off the brooding of eggs. Her feathers look old and ugly because we are going into molt. I would not bother her, but just let her do her thing.

 

[Emrosenagel]

Nothing is what I would do. She is active, and food is available, she is doing fine. She is going to be skinnier coming off the brooding of eggs. Her feathers look old and ugly because we are going into molt. I would not bother her, but just let her do her thing.

Alrighty. Like I said, she was the same with her first clutch of eggs, but I worry! She’s was also broody for about 3 weeks before i finally gave her eggs, so she’s probably extra worn out from sitting for so long.

 

[NatJ]

Her crop is empty most of the day and her poops are less frequent and mostly urates (white and clear with smaller solid brown poops, I assume it’s because of the lack of food). I know it’s normal for mother hens to do the bare minimum for themselves...

Do they have plenty of food available?

If they regularly run out of feed, I would provide more so they can all eat as much as they want.

If they have to forage for their own food, I would provide some for them.

But if they have all the chick starter they want to eat, all day every day, I would probably just wait it out. You could try offering them some wet mash (chick starter plus water) if you want, in addition to their usual food, or you could just trust the hen to eat what she needs when she needs it.