Broody Golden Comets

[Kalebsmomma]

I have been dealing with a broody Golden Comet! And now I have 2! We settled with Golden Comets because of their laying ablities and rarely go broody. We have been dealing with one being broody for quite awhile and now one of her sister's has started in. I have been collecting eggs multiply times a day when I can. Always kick her out of the nesting box when I catch her in it. And chase her from the coop. Bribed her with treats. We also added 10 pullets and roosters a couple weeks ago. Was hoping she would get annoyed and quit. But no go and now with another one starting I want to nip it in the butt before my other hens get the same I idea. I have 26 hens!
What else can i do to get my girls to quit?

 

[sourland]

Cage/lock them away from the nest boxes until they break broodiness.

 

[Kalebsmomma]

For how long? Is there a way to tell she has stopped being broody before I put her back in? We have a 2nd coop that we use for new chicks that is currently not being used. Can I put her in there?
Should I lock away both away together or do one at a time? In 4 years she is my first to ever go broody and now her sis.

 

[sourland]

I'd place them both in the second coop and leave them until they stop clucking, complaining, and exhibiting the broody posture.

 

[Shadrach]

Probably none of this is what you want to read but...
If you've got broody Golden Comets then you've got something quite precious in the world of production layers. They don't live long and while out of the batteries some do eventually go broody in the right circumstances it's pretty rare.
I would let her sit if she has fertile eggs.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Just heard from my niece in law that she has 2 red sex linked hens that are also broody. I have been inundated with Wyandotte broodies over the last 3 years, but sex linked? What are they doing with these chickens?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Just heard from my niece in law that she has 2 red sex linked hens that are also broody. I have been inundated with Wyandotte broodies over the last 3 years, but sex linked?

There are two different types of red sex links. One is the commercial egg laying hybrids. These have relatively small bodies, leghorn sized, and lay a lot of large eggs. They are bred to not go broody often. You can never totally breed broodiness out of a flock of chickens but you can make it very unlikely they ever go broody.

The other type is when you cross a rooster pure for the gold gene with a hen that has silver. Many hatcheries sell this type of red sex links. Since they are typically crosses of dual purpose chickens the offspring have the same general characteristics as their parents. Not close to the commercial hybrids.

What are they doing with these chickens?

Generally nothing that different than they have been doing for decades. It helps to know which type of red sex link you are dealing with so you know what to expect.

One possible difference is that in the last few years hatcheries have been using different dual purpose breeds to make their red sex links and giving them cute names as a marketing ploy. In the past most hatcheries used Rhode Island Reds or New Hampshire as the rooster with gold genes but now they could be using other breeds. The hens with silver they use have been changing too. The breeds they used to use generally don't go broody that often but if you get one of those new crosses maybe they do go broody more often. But these are not likely to be called Golden Comets.

We settled with Golden Comets because of their laying ablities and rarely go broody.

If you know which hatchery they came from we may be able to tell you which type of Golden Comets these are, commercial hybrid or a cross of two dual purpose breeds. Golden Comets are not a breed, it's just a marketing name.

What else can i do to get my girls to quit?

The way I break a broody is to put her in an elevated wire-bottomed cage for 72 hours. The air hitting her underside seems to help break her form being broody. This keeps her away from her nest so she doesn't get any reinforcement. I put food, water, and nothing else in there. It needs to be predator safe and not somewhere it becomes an oven. If 72 hours isn't enough I repeat.

I'll repeat this. You can never totally breed going broody out of chickens. Just like not every chicken of a certain breed will go broody. You can breed them so whether going broody or not going broody is highly likely.

 

[WIchickMama]

Probably none of this is what you want to read but...
If you've got broody Golden Comets then you've got something quite precious in the world of production layers. They don't live long and while out of the batteries some do eventually go broody in the right circumstances it's pretty rare.
I would let her sit if she has fertile eggs.

I agree with this. If you have the space and want chicks, I would let her sit. I have a Leghorn that went broody this spring, which is a rarity, and I let her sit and she was an amazing mama. Funny what happens when you just let chickens be chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

Funny what happens when you just let chickens be chickens

Isn't it just.

I'm looking after a couple of Ex Battery Golden Comets at the moment and they are lovely looking in my opinion.
Here in the UK there are a few versions of the Red Sex Linked chicken.
I'm really interested in how many, if any, will go broody and under what circumstances.
I've got a Legbar/Marans cross farm resuce, not battery and she goes broody easily. I was hoping the Ex Battery might get the idea.

 

[Kalebsmomma]

Ridgerunner we've always gotten our chicks from Hoover's Hatchery​