Abandoned

We aren’t just sure when she gave up on motherhood.  But by now, more than four weeks into the obligatory egg-sitting responsibility – which she apparently blew off consistently – Ms. Broody is back with her sister hens, sans chicks.  Her unhatched eggs (all of them) show muddy claw prints, bearing witness to the fact that she did turn them now and then.  But for several weeks she chose to sit outside the brooder box, leaving her eggs untended.

Nyel, taking note of her recalcitrant behavior, gave up on her far sooner than I did.  I was ever hopeful that she was keeping those eggs warm “most” of the time.  In fact, “all” of the time that we weren’t watching.  Obviously, I was in big time denial.  I really was hoping for some fluffy little chicks.  And, eventually, more eggs.

Dust Bath

Yesterday was her first full day back with the rest of the girls.  If they missed her, they weren’t saying.  They all seemed wonderfully companionable throughout the day.  They pecked busily around the garden and took part in a group dust bath in an unused corner of the vegetable garden.

In fact, the Wanna-not-be Mother Hen and her sister Silver Laced Wyandott look and act so much alike that I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart except for one thing – a few loose feathers which drop off from the Queen of False Alarm now and then, leaving a trail of white fluff around the yard.  Not enough, though, to result in any bare spots on Ms. Moody-Broody.  Yet.

Ms. Moody

There were lots of those tell-tale feathers in the brooder pen, too.  Nyel thought she was under stress at being separated (as it turned out, for no reason) from the rest of the girls.  I worried that she was molting even as she was getting ready for motherhood.  So far, it seems as though Farmer Nyel has been right on all counts.  Obviously, I am not at one with chickens.  More like at two or three.