My favorite hen is wasting away

[Molly77]

My beloved lone survivor from a dead batch of mailed chicks last spring, Admiral Byrd, went broody in Sept-Oct. I'm a noob so I didn't break her right away and she went on for about a month. Already small, she lost half her body weight and made her chest bald. She's been fine after, but the temps dropped down to low single digits last weekend and she started really suffering from the cold. 2 days ago she got back in the nesting box and wouldn't get out again. She doesn't seem egg bound. She started shivering, so I brought her inside the house and she seems fine, but she just won't eat or drink any significant amount. Yesterday it got up in the 20s so I took her out to be with the hens and she got right back in the nesting box again and stayed there for a couple of hours until I came and got her.

Inside my house she wanders around and seems her normal self, but won't eat more than a few bites of her food. Can a hen die from being continuously broody? I don't know what is happening to Adm. Byrd, or how to put weight back on her. She's not at all cold ready with a bald chest and no body mass, and she can stay in my kitchen when it's under 20, but she is a Buff Orpington and weighs less than 2 lbs. The other same age hens in my flock are like 6-8 lbs right now. She won't touch scrambled eggs. How can I help this sweetheart?

 

[nuthatched]

Have you ever wormed her?

 

[Krosfyre9838]

In my mind, If she's not laying and there are no eggs she shouldn't be broody. I'm leaning towards she's got some ailment but I'm am amateur. I've only raised chickens for two years. I have almost 40, and I've lost quite a bit from various different things. I've never lost one from being over broody, but I have heard that some chickens will sit so long they die. Mine actually haven't gone broody, I gather the eggs daily and I hatch by incubation.

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Have you ever wormed her?
Will she not eat anything? Could you offer her some grain/scratch?

 

[Molly77]

Have you ever wormed her?

I haven't, but a vet checked them for worms in October. Great thought, though, I need to keep that in mind.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If a hen is broody, they will set whether they have eggs to set on or not. The behavior is hormone-driven. Do you have a broody breaker cage? You need to keep her elevated to keep her belly cool for several days. Do you have the instructions to break a broody?

 

[Molly77]

An update: Adm Byrd spent a couple of days indoors in my kitchen, either in a dog crate or out walking around eating and drinking. Unlike her first broody episode, she willingly came out of the crate to look around and be in the kitchen. She seems to be doing fine. She broke broody quickly this time. I will never let another hen stay broody unless they are hatching eggs, it was not a good thing for my hen to let her brood for 3 weeks the first time.