?Did You Know?

[ChickyPooh]

We have a broody RR hen and she has even attacked my face! I know this might be a little mean but I have a really great way to break broodiness besides "chicken jail".
1. get a bucket full of water
2. get the broody hen and hang her upside down by her legs
3. dunk her several time upside down in the water
4. set her down and she should walk away a new chicken
Hope it works for you like it works for me!

 

[d.k]

* Uh, no. First, "upside-down" chickens are not recommended. Upside-down chickens have a tendancy to suck crop contents into their lungs, get sick and die. Scratch 1 chicken. Two, is cruelty.

 

[hooligan]

I agree with d.k.

 

[Standard Hen]

That sounds very cruel to me.

 

[ChickyPooh]

I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I now understand not to do that. That was something my grandmother used to tell me and when we had a broody hen that would always work (without harming the hen). My family has always done that and I never looked at the situation that way. Thank you for helping me realize that this is animal cruelty and it will never again be used on my farm.

 

[SpottedCrow]

That's okay, Chickypooh..
:aww

 

[Lanissa86]

If it makes you feel better, your family was not the only ones who did this. My great-grandparents and grandparents both did this and it has been passed down from generations before. All their hens were always fine and healthy. Yes, I see now a days we all do things differently and so things change as new generations start. Hope you find a good safe way to break your girls from being aggressive. Although my family did it for broodiness I think, and then caged them and kept all eggs away from the broodies. Things sure do change huh..?

 

[ChickyPooh]

Thanks, I just never thought about it that way.

 

[Standard Hen]

Yes it's ok. Sometimes things that were done in the past are not always the best and then again many are. But just think if that were you getting held upside down being dunked in a bucket of water...I honestly do not think the little chicken brain has the capacity to understand why that is happening.
We all learn something new everyday.

 

[Beekissed]

If it makes you feel any better, Chickypooh, my grandma used to treat chickens with a cold with kerosene. She would hold them down, drop a few drops down their gullets! It may sound cruel and crazy but it cleared it up right away! I, myself, revert to grandma's ways at times. The other day I was working with the hens and they were making quite a racket....well, my rooster, A Boy Named Sue, came to the rescue!! He was just doing what he would normally do to anything "attacking" his girls, he started "making fight", as granny would call it. I picked up a stick and "lofted" him 3 or 4 times! He quickly left the building and did all his protesting from OUTSIDE the coop!

A previous time he pecked me as I took a hen off the roost and I cuffed him up side the head. The next hen I reached for, I noticed he turned his head away and tucked it under his wing! Cruel, some would say. I won't be pecked and terrorized in my own henhouse! Sometimes the old methods are tried and true and do no permanent harm. Don't feel so bad!