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

[CHICKEN CRAZY1]

This is amazing!

 

[Gargoyle]

In conjunction with the research, did you find any method that will decrease broodiness? That is often an issue for many of us, if we aren't planning on hatching this season we want to discourage the incidence of broodification.

 

[Infinity]

Chickendude. You are an exceptional man to take so much time to explain this. The science is irrefutable.

 

[chickendude]

Chickendude. You are an exceptional man to take so much time to explain this. The science is irrefutable.

Thanks. I'm just looking out for fellow chicken lovers.

 

[seminolewind]

I have been part of this study. I have had very positive results. The only downside is that now 2 are broody. It makes it real hard for the other hens to squeeze in to lay. I'll have to think of something to entice the other hens to use the empty nest next to it. You know how it is, they all want in the same nest!

 

[Big Orp]

In conjunction with the research, did you find any method that will decrease broodiness? That is often an issue for many of us, if we aren't planning on hatching this season we want to discourage the incidence of broodification.

I have a friend that has very broody hens so he locks them in a pin in full sun light for the day. This seems to snap them out of it quickly.
Other than that I have never heard of any other method to discourage broodiness.

 

[donrae]

I'm so glad this is finally released so everyone can benefit! I didn't participate in the research, but I'd heard rumors and was intrigued. I had a hard time getting the foil in the right place--my nest boxes don't have tops or lids, they're open Rubbermaid tubs or milk crates. I finally got them on their sides, or under a shelf (coop is a converted greenhouse). It did take some time to get the right size and placement. I tried under then hen, that didn't work--I think the bedding blocked the reflection too much? My honey offered to help me just foil the entire ceiling of the coop, but it's pretty large and I don't think the hormone concentration would get strong enough. Plus, I was a little worried about feminizing my roosters---what's the point of having a broody hen if you're rooster's not interested in mating? We joked about making tinfoil hats for them! I found the square foot size pretty much did it for the large fowl. I used a slightly smaller size--maybe 8 inches square--for the bantam cochins. I was kinda afraid if I used the same size as the large hens I'd OD them on their own hormones! I'm using the thicker Reynolds foil from Costco--not sure on the gauge but it's heavy duty stuff. Good luck to everyone--I'll be expecting to see a "chick boom" in a month or so!!

 

[seminolewind]

In conjunction with the research, did you find any method that will decrease broodiness? That is often an issue for many of us, if we aren't planning on hatching this season we want to discourage the incidence of broodification.

I'm not sure but mine started laying like crazy right before they went broody.

 

[suebee]

so I was up all night awake, thinking that some how a silkies irregular feathers might have something to do with their inherent broodiness. (fine aluminum particles naturally found in the soil and sand where they dust bathe coat their irregular feathers and acts as a shield to keep in a abnormally high concentration of hormones. and this got me thinking, can I do anything else to make her go broody faster, apart from her normal three month turn around time. so I got up at 1 or so in the morning, fashioned me a nice tin foil hat for my silkie Bertha, and put it on her while she was sleeping. come morning she is still wearing her hat and is broody as can be, she only had three eggs, so I decided to give her another six from a black cochin.

You beat me to it...I'm working on a little tin foil vest and matching hat as we speak! This is a great discovery Nifty!

 

[donrae]

so I was up all night awake, thinking that some how a silkies irregular feathers might have something to do with their inherent broodiness. (fine aluminum particles naturally found in the soil and sand where they dust bathe coat their irregular feathers and acts as a shield to keep in a abnormally high concentration of hormones.
and this got me thinking, can I do anything else to make her go broody faster, apart from her normal three month turn around time.
so I got up at 1 or so in the morning, fashioned me a nice tin foil hat for my silkie Bertha, and put it on her while she was sleeping. come morning she is still wearing her hat and is broody as can be, she only had three eggs, so I decided to give her another six from a black cochin.

Personally, with this info on the foil, I think it's the very silkie feathers themselves that maybe just don't release as much estradiol as a regular feathered hen--that's my new theory, anyway. Silkie feathers have less surface area and the shape inhibits as much release of the hormone, so the silkie hens have more hormones retained in their bodies--thus they go broody more often!