# Broody Hen...Dead



## chma4 (Feb 27, 2005)

THe past two days, our speckled suusex has been broody. Today, she was dead, in her box. No injuries, no obvious signs of illness. Just dead. When I picked her up she was quite heavy, so no starvation or anything. She was almost two years old, and this was her first time being broody. Anyone have any ideas? Can being broody kill a hen?


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## Blue Run Farm (Feb 14, 2011)

I just had almost the same thing happen with my speckled sussex hen, only she was a first year layer. Just started laying a couple months ago and now she is dead. I had noticed her hanging around in the nesting box and thought she was going broody or just sleeping down there with Mrs. Puff, the silky hen. Then I found her dead, just laying there, not a mark on her and good and heavy. I looked over the body for wounds and then disposed of it. In hindsight, I wish I had felt for an egg, because I am thinking she was probably egg bound. I have never had an egg bound hen and it just didn't pop into my head right away. But that's what I think it may have been because she wasn't sick and the rest of the flock is still healthy. And looking up egg bound hens, one of the main signs is that they stay in the nest box because they are trying to lay an egg that won't come out. I feel really guilty for not realizing this sooner and checking on her before she died  So I wonder, are you sure your hen was broody, or could it have been the same thing? Maybe she seemed broody because she was trying to lay an egg that wasn't coming out?


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Your hen was probably not going broody but was sick for the days before her death.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

What Pancho said


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

Sorry about your hen, but I would agree that something was ailing her. I had that happen with a Silkie, so I lubed a finger with a surgical glove on, and checked her vent internally. Sure enough she had HUGE egg stuck. Way big for such a little hen. I did everything I could to save her, but she didn't make it. Too much detail for me to describe here. Sounds like she had a problem...sorry.


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## chma4 (Feb 27, 2005)

Maybe a stuck egg. I did not assume she was broody because she wouldn't leave the box, she was clucky and all puffing up and acting all broody, besides the obvious unwillingness to leave the box. How would one un-bound a egg bound hen? For the future...
And thanks
Christina


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

I would guess you try to break the egg somehow and get it out, I dont know


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## Blue Run Farm (Feb 14, 2011)

I have read that you can soak their butt in warm soapy water to try to relax the muscles enough to let the egg pass. However, having never had one (that I caught in time, still beating myself up about the hen I lost recently), I have not tried it. I also read that often they die anyway


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

There is link on how, google it. As for me, I first tried the warm bath, then placed her in a cage with hay bedding and a heat lamp. Helps them relax. When that didnt work, I checked her internally, and felt the egg. I then inserted mineral oil with a syringe (no needle). Also, I dissolved calcium, and put a few drops in her mouth...that's said to help too. After a day, nothing help, and she was getting worse. The only thing left, is to carefully break the egg, and remove as much shell as possible. This isn't recommeded because it's very risky, and they can get an infection, and cuts from the broken shell. I then inserted an antibiotic medicine, and ointment. I did this as a very last resort, because she would have died anyway. she died after a couple of days. I'll never do it again, but also since she was a silkie, they are small, and fragile to begin with.
It does sound like your hen was broody the way you described her behavior....you think something bit her..spider, or snake?


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## chma4 (Feb 27, 2005)

Too cold for snakes here right now. Spider is possible, but poisonous spiders are VERY rare here. I have never seen a black widow or a brown recluse, and I have lived here my whole life. ( a few years  ) I almost thought she had a heart attack, stressing herself out, acting such a fool, as broody hens do.


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

if she was that broody she probably wasn't trying to lay eggs still. Just because she is heavy it doesn't mean she was eating. Did she leave her box for food and water at least once a day? She might have inadvertantly starved herself to death.


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

Did she actually make the sounds and actions a broody makes? 
I'm thinking it was a stuck egg otherwise. 
Liquid calcium, soapy warm water baths and a bit of oil orally and on her vent sometimes helps get an egg out. 
You don't break the eggs because of possible infection when all the egg bits don't come out and you can't stick a hose up there to get them out...
A hen that is broody longer than 30 days risks starvation, I never allow mine to be broody anymore, some go fairly stupid and refuse to move to eat at all!


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