Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Reality of Being a Mother Hen

Have you ever felt henpecked and want to fly the coop? Not feeling high enough in the pecking order? Too many old biddies clucking at you? But you feel a little chicken?

There are so many sayings related to being a chicken. Since Zachary has been keeping chickens it is obvious how a lot of the sayings came to be. One new experience for all of us has been watching his hen Gizzie "go broody", set on her eggs for three weeks, and tend to her babies for the last five weeks in the lean to and yard. She was super protective and would barely even tolerate Zachary coming near her.

Until now, all of our chicks had either been incubated and hatched by us, or bought as day old chicks. So it was a learning experience to see just how protective a mother hen is when allowed to raise her babies.

Then in one shocking moment, it was all over. Some maternal instinct told Gizzie she was done, and they did not need her anymore.

So she left them and returned to the coop. Just like that. They were on their own, and not too happy about it. Zachary said they cried (cheeped pitifully) as darkness approached and they did not know what to do.

However, they found their way to shelter, and are just fine today.

I wonder if this is something I should try?

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