One of my hens has the rest of the girls in an uproar.
She's been brooding. It got me thinking about the meaning of the word. First off, the word brood: to hover over and protect, to sit on or hatch, all the children in a family, to keep thinking about something in a distressed or troubled way, to hover or loom, hang low. It's curious to me how so many words about human motherhood are rooted in the behavior of birds...or chickens.
Mother Hen
Nesting
Brood, Brooding, Broody.
My one hen has a serious case of mothering instinct running through her veins. She's staying in the hen house, protecting her clutch of nothing. She's literally sitting on nothing mostly. Unless she happens to find an egg or two that one of the other hens has laid. We don't even have a rooster. But she sits and sits on nothing or close to nothing all day long! If she only knew that there are some nice eggs in the next box. I've learned that while brooding, they don't lay eggs or defecate in the box. They'll come off the eggs once a day to relieve themselves, eat and drink.
It's a strong instinct. Yeah, I knew that.
See the red in her eyes? When I open the hen house, she growls and fluffs up her feathers. I know how you feel sister! If some messes with my kids, I get pretty mad too!
Much to her befuddlement, I remove her from the box a few times a day. For which she runs around fluffing her feathers acting defensive! I'm trying to break her from acting broody. If that's even possible Although, I appreciate her instinct being there. My other hens (she's a Salmon Faverolle, a heritage breed that is listed as critical on the American Livestock
Breed Conservancy endangered list.
and known to be broody) don't give a darn about their eggs. I wish we lived on a farm, had a rooster and could raise some chicks. Until then, I want her to get out for water, food and fresh air!
I've been watching my hens a lot lately. I watch my broody girl interacting with the other hens. This morning, one of the Wyandottes pecked at her and she immediately gave her a peck right back. I imagine the short interaction in human terms. Because, I have times ( like once a month?!) when I'm sure I'm NOT being hormonal : )
It went something like this....
One hen says, "You're being SO emotional, You're totally blowing this out of proportion!!" (peck broody girl on the head)
Broody girl responds, "I am NOT, Hmmph!" (peck back and walk away)
I learn so much from my chickens. We're really not so different.
For further similarities I have with chickens, you can read this post I wrote just about a year ago.
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