I have three golden comet hens and one of them went broody about a month ago. "Broody" is a trance-like state hens sometimes go into with no warning or for any reason humans can detect. They stop running around and just sit on a nest, often a nest that already has eggs in it. Now for those not aquainted with chicken life, hens lay eggs almost daily - with or without a rooster. Without a rooster, the eggs are infertile. With a rooster - they are most likely to be fertile - which means they can hatch into baby chicks given the right circumstances. Enter the broody hen.
Well, we have no rooster. Jake and Franklin tolerate my hens at best and a rooster is out of the question so I went scrounging the neighborhood for someone who had a rooster and thus had fertile eggs. I found three eggs at Susie's that a little black, banty, feather-legged couple had produced. Susie knew right where they were. "Go up into the top of the barn, turn left, walk towards the back and you'll see the nest they think they've hidden." I brought home the eggs and put them under my Ms. Broody. Twenty-one days later, two little black chicks hatched. (One egg went missing half way through the process - must have become a black snake's dinner.) Now this full-size hen is mothering two banty-size black chicks she thinks are her own. They will grow to be only half her size. She'll face off anyone or anything that tries to cause them harm or who she thinks is causing them harm.
Several times our dog, Ace was just trying to walk by her and she flew in his face to protect her young. Today I had a bag of bread scraps in my hand and was talking to Franklin when she came and flew up to try to pull down the bag for her chicks to eat.
We had to make her a special nesting box since the chicks are too small to fly up and roost. It's funny to watch her take them inside an hour or two before the other hens go in. Kind of like she knows danger lurks at dusk and she wants them to be safely tucked in before "the fox goes out one chilly night."
