Sick mother hen not eating or drinking :(

Joseph

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BYC is down, so I came to this.
My chicken recently hatched out 10 babies and they were all good and fine yesterday, but today I checked on them and the mother has a dull pink comb and wattle and won't eat or drink! I did a bit of research and she might have mites so I put some chicken flea powder on her. She is by herself with her chicks, there are no other hens around. I don't know what to do!
 

kla37

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She may be worn out from setting so long and not eating and drinking much. Give her some honey in her water, and maybe mix some up in some scrambled or hard boiled egg for her so she gets a little burst of energy. Some vitamins might help too! (NOT with iron)
 

Julienkc

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How recently did she hatch them? Mine always go into sort of a trance when they are hatching, and won't move for anything for a day or two. I think it's their version of "lockdown". Make sure she has food and water where she can reach it from the nest. Is her comb very pale, and has it been or did it just suddenly turn pale? My broodies are usually silkies, but I had a bo go broody and I'm pretty sure her comb got pale after a few weeks, and stayed that way until she was done with the chicks and laying again.
 

Cynthia12

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kla37 said:
She may be worn out from setting so long and not eating and drinking much. Give her some honey in her water, and maybe mix some up in some scrambled or hard boiled egg for her so she gets a little burst of energy. Some vitamins might help too! (NOT with iron)
X 2, especially on the part of more protein. And as someone else down the line here said, sometimes they are more pale for a bit. I saw one like that at a friends home. Looked so pitiful. But, she came out of it in a couple of days.
 

artsyrobin

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i give mine gamebird feed- cuz its higher in protien, try her on some scrambled eggs, yogurt, things she will want to share with the babies
 

Joseph

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Julienkc said:
How recently did she hatch them? Mine always go into sort of a trance when they are hatching, and won't move for anything for a day or two. I think it's their version of "lockdown". Make sure she has food and water where she can reach it from the nest. Is her comb very pale, and has it been or did it just suddenly turn pale? My broodies are usually silkies, but I had a bo go broody and I'm pretty sure her comb got pale after a few weeks, and stayed that way until she was done with the chicks and laying again.
I only noticed today that she was significantly pale and I tried to feed her and she wouldn't eat, nor would she drink when I offered water. The babies have already hatched, they are about three days old and she still hasn't gotten off the nest, they've all hatched and there are no more eggs under her, there were thirteen eggs altogether and she got ten out of them!
 

Julienkc

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Joseph said:
Julienkc said:
How recently did she hatch them? Mine always go into sort of a trance when they are hatching, and won't move for anything for a day or two. I think it's their version of "lockdown". Make sure she has food and water where she can reach it from the nest. Is her comb very pale, and has it been or did it just suddenly turn pale? My broodies are usually silkies, but I had a bo go broody and I'm pretty sure her comb got pale after a few weeks, and stayed that way until she was done with the chicks and laying again.
I only noticed today that she was significantly pale and I tried to feed her and she wouldn't eat, nor would she drink when I offered water. The babies have already hatched, they are about three days old and she still hasn't gotten off the nest, they've all hatched and there are no more eggs under her, there were thirteen eggs altogether and she got ten out of them!
Mine took around 3 days to get up. If she's not up by morning up her protein like everyone else said, she needs to get up and get the babies food too. They only have enough yolk for a day or 2, then they need to eat and drink. You may need to take them and brood them, for them and momma.
 

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