MAN VS. MOMMA.
Since we got our old flock of chickens back last month, we've had a broody hen: a hen who is in nesting mode and does nothing else. She doesn't lay. She doesn't eat (much). She doesn't leave. For the around twenty five days it takes for an egg to incubate, she just sits there. It's a bit like a trance and she will stay in it indefinitely, or until her eggs hatch. Unfortunately, all of the eggs we'd left under her weren't fertile (we feared our beloved rooster, Ellen, had not been mating, but that's for another post), and thus they spoiled and didn't hatch.But still we had a spellbound broody hen, not laying.With the arrival of our new chicks last week, however, we were inspired by the idea of letting her raise some for us. In terms of rearing, nothing compares to a momma. So the other night, I slipped a few chicks underneath her to make her think she hatched them herself with the hopes of breaking her broodiness and having her raise the chicks. And?At first I was a little skeptical because out of the six I gave her, only four survived the first day. However, I didn't give her our most vigorous chicks––momma got the runts, the sickly and perhaps the already doomed. The four that remain, however, are getting along wonderfully. After a few months, she'll get back to her egg-laying duties, but until then, she'll be helping us raise some of our birds--teaching them to forage and survive. Hopefully.- Jesse.