Why is this "broody breaking" method suggested?

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

So I had never heard of most of these methods before coming in here.
But one that I find concerning is people recommending dunking a broody in water...

You obviously cannot do this in cold temps.
In any weather above freezing, there are flies that lay eggs on wet things. And things go bad from there.

Plus, it'll obviously stress the bird (and probably cause them to fear you)

So.... why?

Is this one of those old myths that gets passed around? And if they happen to stop going broody, it's just confirmation bias?

 

[LaFleche]

So I had never heard of most of these methods before coming in here.
But one that I find concerning is people recommending dunking a broody in water...

You obviously cannot do this in cold temps.
In any weather above freezing, there are flies that lay eggs on wet things. And things go bad from there.

Plus, it'll obviously stress the bird (and probably cause them to fear you)

So.... why?

Is this one of those old myths that gets passed around? And if they happen to stop going broody, it's just confirmation bias?

During my 25+ years as a chicken breeder I have never and would never dunk a broody in cold/icy water or use similar methods as they appear cruel, dangerous and unnecessary to me.

 

[SilverBirds]

I've never used any method that involves trying to "cool" the hen off. I see those methods as ineffective or risky of putting your hen in shock due to the dramatic temperature change. If I need to stop a broody I will use a broody breaker.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

During my 25+ years as a chicken breeder I have never and would never dunk a broody in cold/icy water or use similar methods as they appear cruel, dangerous and unnecessary to me.

I've never used any method that involves trying to "cool" the hen off. I see those methods as ineffective or risky of putting your hen in shock due to the dramatic temperature change. If I need to stop a broody I will use a broody breaker.

My mom would always just remove the eggs, and let the bird be. They'd eventually stop being broody, and none of them seemed to have noticeably poor health or stay too long (though, keeping in mind, I was a kid terrified of being pecked so I tried to not be around during egg collecting times.)

Some of my pullets just went broody, again. It's too hot, so I don't feel comfortable letting them hatch anything. (Plus, I'd want to hatch their eggs. But they're broody. So, no more eggs from them...) So I'm just stealing the eggs so they have nothing to set.
If I remove them from the nest, they get increasingly more agitated and defensive. So I'm going to limit that to necessities only.
Oh but, I do remove them so they can roost at night.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I just started seeing this on here recently and it bothers me as well. I try to avoid giving chickens baths unless absolutely necessary. Pretty sure I’ve given two in ten plus years of having chickens and pretty sure one of those killed the chicken

 

[Debbie292d]

So I had never heard of most of these methods before coming in here.
But one that I find concerning is people recommending dunking a broody in water...

You obviously cannot do this in cold temps.
In any weather above freezing, there are flies that lay eggs on wet things. And things go bad from there.

Plus, it'll obviously stress the bird (and probably cause them to fear you)

So.... why?

Is this one of those old myths that gets passed around? And if they happen to stop going broody, it's just confirmation bias?

The vast majority of us that I've seen do it with the raised cage method. I've seen that dunking idea in a few other groups but this one, nope.

Us having silkies and living in Wisconsin, have to have a method that works year round and the raised cage works. Four to five days and done.

Ours is an XXL or the largest we could find for our macaw parrot as a travel cage. Now it's a broody jail. A nipple bottle hangs from the top so they can't spill their water or step in it. The feed is in a little stainless steel bucket that attaches to the side, so they can't tip that over either.



I've had as many as five or six in there, knowing a couple would be coming out in a day or two.

 

[Susan Skylark]

This is right up there with slapping a puppy on the nose with a newspaper for house training, unhelpful at best, and very possibly harmful. Maybe somebody thought broodiness and hangovers are a similar condition?

 

[Anon112]

I'll put my hand up as someone who has used water to help break a broody hen. It was several years ago in the summer. When removing her eggs didn't work, I put her in tepid water (her legs and chest) for about two minutes to bring her body temperature down a bit, then dried her off afterwards. She didn't seem bothered outside of how a broody is always annoyed to be lifted out of the nesting box.

This was before I knew about other methods, and these days I'd go with egg removal then a raised cage. But if the water isn't cold and you're not dunking the whole bird, I don't think it's necessarily cruel or dangerous.