Does putting frozen vegetables help chickens stop being broody?

[silkieRaiser]

Hi,
So I have a broody chicken and I don't want to have her hatch. I know I can break her, but I did that with a different chicken and I got so guilty because whenever I came in she would pace back in forth in her cage and it broke my heart. I recently got a tip from a friend's friend that putting frozen vegetables or an ice pack helps them stop being broody. Does this really work? And which is better, veggies (she could eat them) or an ice pack (she could eat the plastic)?

 

[Flufferes]

I had done it before with my austrolorp, she just melted the ice. Little rat.....
do you have a rooster?

 

[silkieRaiser]

no

 

[aart]

Eh...it can work, but pretty rarely from what I've read.
Same goes with the water dunking technique.

If you do try it, one of those hard thick plastic ice packs that you can refreeze would probably be the best bet.

Just go with the cage, don't feel too guilty...she's better off in the long run.

Best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.
Water nipple bottle added after pic was taken.

 

[Pork Pie]

I have used a water-filled frozen plastic soda bottle in a broody buster before. It shortened my hen's broodiness by 1 day compared to not using it. I honestly can't be bothered to repeat it for the sake of one day.

 

[azygous]

Using a cooling device may help shorten the broody spell, but of all those, a fan works best.

If I have a broody I want to break and the weather is very warm, I set up the broody cage in the middle of the busiest part of the run and place a fan to blow on the underparts of my hen. Then I dip just her nether regions in water so there's an evaporation/cooling thing going on. It works very well to cool her body temperature which then slowly reduces the grip her broody hormones have on her.

 

[silkieRaiser]

Ok. I will try these tactics!! Thanks for the help.