A chicken’s diet can greatly affect the bird’s health and overall well-being. Your chicken will have a much higher chance of living a long and healthy life if it eats good quality food. The opposite will happen if the bird eats low-quality food.
This article looks into what to feed a broody hen
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What to feed a broody hen:
Broody hens are picky eaters, these birds only eat about 20% of what they usually eat so feeding them the best quality foods that you can is important. Here is what you can feed a broody hen:
Base diet:
You should be feeding your hen a nutrient-rich feed, like an 18 to 20 percent protein chick starter feed, when she is broody. You can alternatively feed your bird game bird feed, this feed usually contains much less calcium than layer feed.
Chickens only need high calcium feed when they are laying eggs, broody hens don’t lay eggs
Feeding your bird carbohydrates is also important, carbohydrates are a good source of fuel for the bird’s body, and even small amounts of carbohydrates will go a long way.
Feed your bird a high carbohydrate scratch grain as a supplement to their chicken starter feed or their game bird feed.
Water:
Chickens can survive a few days with no food but they can’t last too long without water. Keep your bird from becoming dehydrated by making sure that water is easily accessible to your broody hen at all times.
If your chicken is producing a loose stool while it’s broody, then you can add some apple cider vinegar to the bird’s water. Apple cider vinegar will make the bird produce more solid poop.
Other foods:
Other foods and treats that you can offer your broody hen include scrambled eggs, cooked fish, low sodium cottage cheese, uncooked oatmeal, tuna, cheese, yogurt, boiled and cut-up eggs, mealworms, and canned sardines.
These foods can be fed as treats to your bird in addition to her base diet and water.
Treats will not only spur her appetite but they will also restore some lacking nutrients and calories in her diet
The birds will instinctively know what to eat, and how much to eat, as long as they are given a good varied diet.
What to avoid feeding your broody hen:
You shouldn’t be feeding your broody hen the calcium-rich layer feed that you usually feed your egg-laying birds.
Calcium-rich layer feed is fed to egg-laying hens to ensure that the bird lays eggs with strong eggshells.
This is all well and good, but feeding a surplus of calcium to birds who don’t need it will cause the bird to have excess calcium in its body, this excess calcium will be expelled by the kidneys as uric acid.
This high level of uric acid in the bird’s kidneys will form crystals that will block the tubes in the bird’s kidneys.
The excess calcium can also bind to phosphorous and make phosphorous unavailable in the bird’s body. This will cause the bird to develop rickets (soft or rubbery bones).
Too much calcium in the body of a bird that doesn’t need it will also cause visceral gout in the bird.
Added tips:
Make sure that the bird eats: Birds that go broody are known to not eat that much food, try to encourage the bird to eat food by feeding the bird its food right out of your hands. Feeding your bird this way ensures that the bird eats something.
Don’t try to overfeed the bird: Broody hens will eat as much as they need to, they don’t need to eat too much because they aren’t expending too much energy, but they do need to eat.
Keep food close: Keeping your bird’s feeders and waters close by is also recommended. Doing this allows her to easily access the feeder without having to be too far away from her eggs.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Broody Hen Keeps Switching Nests, Broody Hen Has No Eggs, Rooster Hates One Hen, Rooster Biting Hens Neck