April Fools 2014 - BYC Sponsored Study: Increase Chicken Broodiness By Up To 48% With Aluminum Foil

[Mahonri]

This news has increased aluminium futures substantially.

Recently Alcoa stock has jumped through the ceiling.... and folks thought that it was simply because of the lawsuit they recently won in Great Britain.

This secret has been out for quite sometime. I used to have leghorns go broody with this trick!

I also put it underneath the shavings and I think it was a great comfort to my broody hens.

Forget incubators when you've got aluminium in the next boxes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I wonder if it will work with my ducks. I Just got a new shed yesterday and I am going to try it.

It does I have a broody duck and the foil did it, soon as it get day light I'll snap a pic.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Dang! I'm fresh out of foil. Why didn't someone post this before I wrapped all my diner leftovers last night????

 

[theoldchick]

Great. Just Great. Now the price of aluminum foil will jump higher than a grasshopper on a hot tin roof.

 

[dawg53]

This oughta work great since I now live in the "Sunshine State!" LOL

 

[Cpt Jera]

Haven't yet tried the tin foil trick for broodiness but can tell you that hanging a KFC bucket near the coop gets those unproductive gals really busy really fast. Girls aren't as nearly as dumb as most folks think! They take hints very well!

 

[Phage]

I will try it with the foil lined cannister, flux capacitor, disco ball and music.

Infact if all the gazillions of BYC members join in think how BYC could add to "Big Data" that is all the rage in scientific circles.

I do worry about the cockerels though: with all that extra estrogen floating around they would be in danger of developing female morphological characteristics. But then that may also solve the excess rooster problem so double wammy!!!!

 

[Gargoyle]

As some of you know, I spend a good part of my time in Italy, and know quite a number of backyard chicken people there. See the link in my signature to photos of Tuscan Chickens.

My neighbors father told me about this- he has a flock of about three dozen Italian heritage chickens, and when I was over there in February he lent me a copy of the December issue of an Italian poultry journal, Riviste di Pollaio in Cortile. They explained the reason many small flock owners have poor success rates with this method. It is dependent on the gauge of the aluminum foil. They found that the name brand higher quality aluminum foils absorb and generate radiant heat with a short wavelength, similar to electric radiant heat in a house, and that can have a negative impact on the estradiol levels, whereas the cheaper brands (what we in the U.S. would find in a dollar store or big box store) produce a softer, longer wave length radiant heat more similar to hydronic systems. Due to climatic impact this method was found to be more effective in Northern Italy than in Sicily and the far southern regions. They felt this was due to the more intense solar radiation nearer to the equator, which offsets the hydronic impact.

I'll try to scan the article this afternoon in case anyone else here reads Italian; I'm having some problems with my scanner software, I couldn't get it to work yet. Maybe after I have some coffee I'll figure it out.

 

[Infinity]

My husband has a great idea. He has old aluminum mag wheels stored in the barn. Do you think after putting in a bit of straw in the centers, that this could work the same way? We are all about recycling. It could work on same principle as the brilliant shop vac theory.

 

[MyPetNugget]

SO COOL!! I was just reading all the hatch -a - long threads wishing I had a silkie! I will have to try this!