Help please With two questions? Silkie and Hen alone.

[boxy1974]

Hi all,
I'm very worried at the moment. I have a silkie that we have had since the 29th of October. Over the last few weeks she has lost some weight and started staying in her pen. We noticed that she was egg sitting for the other Hen so we thought she might be broody. So my question is,If she is broody would she sulk and go off her food?
The second question is,if she was to pass away i would be left with one hen. Would i leave her alone or may be get two more to make a small group again? Again i got her on the 29th of Oct last year.

[chris]

Sounds like she may be broody.. Not so much sulking if she is, more like a determined mother.

Again if she is she won't starve herself, and will come off the egg(s) to poo and feed/drink. Does she fluff up when you approach her? Or cluck low and repeatedly? Squat if you move her off the eggs?

Mines been broody 3 times this year, and looses lots of weight, but as RH informed me, they bounce back when not broody.

[boxy1974]

Thanks for the reply. She looks well and you can only tell she is under weight when she is picked up. When you watch her from a distance it looks like she has no energy. She will wobble and just plonk herself down for a while. She just looks sorry for herself as she is normally the one that runs around. Just checked now and they are both tucked up in bed.

[chris]

Perched or in the nesting area? (do they normally perch?)

[boxy1974]

At the moment she is the one always in the nest box. The other one has the whole perched area to herself. The nest box is very clean so i guess she does get up to do a poo. I think only time will tell. Just worried as we had four to start of with. One died with a clod flu and one just passed away. That was a few months ago tho.

[its hilly]

You say 'over the last few weeks'. A broody hen will normally sit for roughly 21 days, with a little bit more if they are determined, as that is how long it takes to hatch eggs. If she sits for much longer she can lose too much condition, and if she is going wobbly and has no energy then she's definately seriously losing too much. I lost a broody silkie on eggs the same way..she was eating but not enough.
You need to make sure she is eating and drinking or you will lose her. AM and PM literally pick her up and stick her in front of fresh food and water, give her her favourites to get her to eat. Unless you are desparate to hatch the eggs then I would take them away (I'm assuming you have a cockeral to make the eggs fertile) and shut her out of the nest box until she gives up.
If you do lose her then if you have a cockeral he may well chase your other hen too much, so another one (or two if there's room) would be a good idea. If not then another one will be company as chickens are flock livers and can pine to death on their own.

[Suechooks]

Silkies are very determined broodies. My youngster sat for nearly 6 weeks recently. I used to turf her out for food, drink and dust bath but she was back very quickly. She's fine now but did lose weight despite my efforts.

[petal]

If she is losing a lot of weight and you are not going to hatch any eggs - break the broody cycle quickly- roost her on safe mesh - ice cubes in towel under belly (not for too long!!)to cool her desire to brood. Each time she sits, remove her, stand her up, remove eggs.

[boxy1974]

Update. She looks a bit better today. I have put up some new netting so they have alot more grass to play on. Hope this link works as she is so cute.

Handy-Uploads | Facebook

[lettucegrow!]

Unusual combination of hens. How did you end up with these?

[boxy1974]

Last bank holiday Aug we went to happy chicks in preesall near Blackpool. We wanted two hens that laid quite a few eggs and two silkies because they look so cute. At the start we had a black and white silkie a white sussex and a Speckledy. Two passed away after about 3 months so now left with two. Would love to get another two but i don't know if they would all get on together. Not been keeping hens for so long. The first one's we had about two years ago were xbats.

[chris]

cor, be nice to look back at all that grass once they've stripped it bare !

[boxy1974]

Update. Shes not a very well girl. Yesterday she could not walk without falling over and her mouth was wide open. We moved her inside away from the other girl and put her in a box with feed and water. Having looked on other websites it looks like it could be worms or a cold(no fluid around tho) it also said she might like cooked rice. Well she loved the rice and started drinking aswell. She made it through the night and all of today. Did not take to the vets as we live 30 minutes away and our last hen died on route. To be honest i did not expect her to make it through the night. Lets just hope

[RichmondHens]

Sorry to hear she is poorly. However, I'm concerned that you have had four hens, two of which have died and one who is now (sounding from your description) quite ill. All in just over 7 months! I think you need to get to the bottom of what is going on with your hens and suggest you get her to a vet asap.