How is a sitting hen kept happy?
Because of the protracted time a broody hen will be sitting in the one spot, she often becomes the target for every bug in the shed. Mites and lice often accumulate in vast numbers in and around the nest box. Make sure you sprinkle a good quality sulphur based insecticide powder in the nest and on the hen. You can put pungent herbs like wormwood in the nest box also. Check under the box for mites and spray these if found. It doesn’t hurt to do that anyway as a precaution. I have seen hens so infested with mites that they have actually died on the nest from anaemia. Of course, sometimes a hen just gets lazy and changes her mind about going through raising babies, getting them through puberty, the teenage years and… hey, sounds like my wife and I!!
