The water dunking cured my broody!! (Update w/ PIC)

[FromOregon]

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She is a very sweet hen despite her brooding.. I just went out to mess with her and got some pics of her all puffed up. I stuck my hand under her to see if that would get her to move and made it extra lumpy underneath her. She just jostled and resettled to try to get my hand tucked under her better. I hope she will be a good mama one day when we have more land and maybe a roo or at least get fertile eggs. For now I would just like her eggs back, because one of the speckled sussex still isn't laying yet

 

[The Red Rooster]

I do that to my poor broody's too!

 

[harvobro]

I just had Laura, my Black Australorp finish off a broody spell. It lasted about 3 weeks. She kept returning to the nest after I'd take her off to join the others. During the daytime I'd do this at least 4-5 times a day whenever I'd go out to check on them; every time I'd return, she was back on the nest again. At dusk I'd remove her from the nest (she wanted to sleep in there) and place her on the roost, with her kicking, flailing, and flapping until she settled, but at least she spent the night with the others-- too dark for her to see her way clear to jump down and go into the nest. At dawn she wouldn't come down with the others so I'd take her out and put her near the water and food-- lots of times she'd just lay down right there, too weak to do anything-- just really in a funk!

I had a broody Buff Orpington a few months ago, and at the time the isolation coop seemed to work for her-- her broodiness cycle only lasted about 2 weeks. But I no longer have that coop available, so this time I decided to just go-with-the-flow and tried to discourage her as much as possible, leaving her with the other 5 girls.

I don't know if I could do the dunking like you did. I'm a follower of Gail Damerow's methods and she discourages those sorts of things, but who knows? I'm glad you found success!

Thanks for sharing your experiences,

harvobro

 

[hannakat]

My broody Gabby is also an Ameraucana. This is the 3rd time she's gone broody. The dunking did not seem to work so that was a one time event for me. If we had bunches of chickens it wouldn't matter but I only have 4 (one young one not laying yet) and I was really hoping for some days with 4 eggs!!!

Oh well....I'm not getting rid of her so I guess we just need to build more egg boxes and let her do what her hormones are telling her. I don't know that I could isolate her either.....if the coop was big enough to have an isolation cage then I could do it I can't manage it in ours.

Gonna go do research on Gail Damerow since I never heard of her before. Thanks!

 

[al6517]

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Waiting on pin's and needles to hear what this woman has to say about curing broodies, Since not many have heard of her methods but then again I can only imagine

 

[hannakat]

Well, I guess you have to buy her book to find out what she has to say. Did a google search and saw an article that said she is the Cesar Millan of the chicken world. Cool...I LOVE Cesar. Don't know that I'm gonna buy it though.

 

[runsw/scissors]

Gail is the authoress of the "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" if that helps... She has a blog for new owners as well. Don't know what she has to say about broody's.

My son's father (that is so much for dignified than my baby's daddy. I loathe that phrase!) claims that it's best to let them just go broody.

I don't have enough hens laying yet to allow that... He also says that if they eat any amount fruit they will instantly stop laying and will not lay for weeks afterword... Don't know that I believe that either.

Anyway I have a little girl that's about to get dunked. Very useful thread; thanks so much.

 

[nodoggies]

How long do you dunk them? I tried this yesterday, and about an hour later I checked and saw her sitting on a roost instead of in the nesting box. But then later that day she was back to her old tricks. It doesn't sound like there's must of a technical procedure here, but maybe I did it wrong?

Never thought I'd be questioning my ability to dunk a chicken!

 

[richardsfamily]

I have a welsummer that has been broody for a couple of weeks. She is not laying on any eggs. I have tried closing the coop during the day for several days. I have caged her for a few days. I have tried kicking her out multiple times during the day. The problem is that if I close the coop the other chickens have to lay underneath and it is very hard to retrieve the eggs. She moves from box to box and she appears to avoid the favorite laying boxes. If I just ignore it will she quit on her own? Won't the fall temperatures cool her down? (if we ever get any)

 

[surgerynut]

My chickens eat all kinds of fruit, at least once a week, and it has never affected their laying. What makes him think that fruit stops the egg laying?

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