One of my gold comets surprised me by going broody...I, of course, ran right to BYC to research if she was ill or broody. Bright clear eyes, normal in every way except hanging out on the nest all day and not eating much. Then when I went to lock up the coop last night she was missing! Huh?? Where is Sandy? Because of what I read, I checked the nest box that hangs in the enclosure, but outside the coop where they sleep...there she was... I took her out and put in her the coop for the night. Today she went out for food in the morning, though she did not eat much, then eventually ended up in the nestbox, much to the distress of her companions! I was getting a broody buster cage ready, but decided to give something else try, first: I did not want to do the cold water dunk, but liked the idea of cooling her extra warm body down. I brought her into the air conditioned house, laid her on her back with a damp paper towel covering her head and when she relaxed I used a small bag of crushed ice to chill her. I moved it around frequently, all across her chest and belly, and even her legs and feet. I probably spent about 20 minutes. I then took her in the kitchen and put her in the oven at 325 for 45 minutes. Just joking!
I took her in the kitchen and gave her a slice of bread torn in pieces with a couple of spoonfuls of raw milk yogurt. She gobbled it up. But then when I took her out, she went right back in the nest box! Instead of using the cage, I just locked her in the coop with some water. She was not a happy camper. About 1 hour later, though, I took all the girls some food, and let her out to eat. She has not gone back in the nest box, since.
I hope that is the end of her broodiness! I really do not want to be doing this every couple weeks!! The low incidence of broodiness was one reason I selected the gold comets. My sis had suggested Orpingtons as a good first chicken, but I had read about their tendency to go broody and decided not to go with them since I would have no rooster, and needed no chicks. I saw yesterday that only one person posted that a gold comet went broody, so it does seem not as likely to turn into a regular thing or even necessarily occur with the other two girls.
Honestly, I can't say whether or not the chilling down had any real effect, especially since she went right back on the nest. Maybe it was just ticking her off by locking her up that broke the hatch trance!
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences BYCer's! As always, the information was helpful! I just love this community!!
hahaha
