BROODIES.......to dunk or not to dunk?

[blueberrychickens]

I have 2 broodies, broody #1 is a GLW & has been broody since early January. Broody #2 is a BO & has only been broody just over 2 weeks. I have no roosters & am not allowed anymore chickens this year, so no trying to sneak fertile eggs or chicks under them @ nite. I have tried to shoo them out of the nestboxes a few times a day, tried putting up a barrier @ night so they wouldn't sleep in the nest boxes(didn't work) I'm thinking my next step would be to dunk them in cold water. Having never done this, what do I do??? How cold should the h2o be??? How long do you put them in the water for??? One quick dunk or hold them there for a couple mins??? It's going to be in the 60's on Friday & I would like to try this then or is it still too cold to try that method??? I'm at my wits end

w/ the GLW broody & am ready to rehome her if she doesn't become unbroody soon. Any suggestions?

 

[CCourson05]

They say to break a broody you have to let her sleep in a confined space with a fan underneath her. I have never done so, but that is what I have heard. Let her run with the other girls during the day and put her in her pen at night...

Hope that helps.

 

[blueberrychickens]

I try to get them to go out w/ the others, but they just go right back to their empty nest boxes......every time!

 

[tinychicky]

ummm, i've never heard of dunking them in cold water, i wouldn't do that, but giving them a bath in nice warm water seems to do the trick. just soak the feathers through to the skin, and if you want use some baby or pet shampoo being careful not to get it in her eyes, then rinse her off, wrap her in a towel, and let her dry off indoors for a while. i break any broodies that become a nuisience in this way, and it also makes thier feathers shiny and pretty

dunking them in cold water would work, too, but it might also kill them, so i wouldn't use that method

when a chicken gets wet, i mean really wet, it takes a very long time for them to get dry again and they will die if they aren't kept warm enough. even kept outside in 60 degree weather would not be warm enough for a wet chicken.

 

[Judy]

I LIKE Tinychicky's method, never heard of it. They usually break for me with what you've already tried. Often here it is suggested to put them in a wire cage for a few days, no nesting material, and the cage propped up so air circulates under them. Give food and water, of course. I tried this once for a day or so, that's as long as I could stand to cage her, and it didn't work. You could probably pick up a used cage cheap off Craigslist or whatever if you don't have one.

 

[tinychicky]

i think a bath is just stressful enough for a broody that it will break her. i also sometimes put broodies on the roost at night when it's too dark for them to see to get back to thier nest so they have to stay up there all night. it works if you're persistent about it. that's what i do in the winter whenit's to cold for giving them a bath, although i think the bath method works better

 

[blueberrychickens]

ok, looks like the girls will be getting a bubble bath on Friday & then dried & fluffed back up & sent back to the coop & run.

 

[kano]

Quote:
This is the best way. But it doesn't work in ONE day.....She must be there for at least 6 or 7 days.

 

[JLS]

I have had success by keeping a broodies out of the coop during the day. I scatter corn all over the yard. This forces the bird to move while searching for food. When it gets dark I put my broodies back in the coop but seperated. It is most important to make sure that the birds do not get back into the nest even for a moment. It usually takes about a week to completely break them.

I've tried soaking them. It didn't work for mine. I have also put them into a wire cage. This works okay but it is very stressful for the bird as well as the flock. My caged birds screamed and carried on for hours like it was the end of the world!

I prefer to let them free range as stated above.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Buy some wire rabbit cages and put them in in there (one cage for each offending broody). Give them food & water but no nesting material. Sometimes it will take a week or two but they'll break eventually.