Broody Chickens

I've actually had the giggles on occasion thinking about one of our chickens. Just before we moved to California for six weeks, Moe went broody. This means that she sat all day on her nest expecting to hatch some chicks. This was our first exposure to it and we thought it was particularly apt that she was waiting for baby chicks as we were preparing our own nest for a baby girl.

When chickens go broody, they sit on their nest all day. They sleep in the nesting box instead of on their roost with the other birds. When we moved her to encourage her to go eat, she would climb right back in the nest. They sit on all of the eggs in the nest ready to be open to any chick that comes along, so the others had to squeeze by her to lay. They can be fussy if you get close to them, pecking you to "back off!" (Though sweet Moe would never do that.) She was literally dazed when we would move her, like she was in a trance and would stumble instead of walk when we lifted her up. Unfortunately, chickens aren't productive as they don't lay any eggs while they're broody, or for some time after. Without eggs, she really was just a pet for a while.

The giggles came when I started to compare myself to Moe. The poor thing sat there for months just knowing that a chick would come along. What she didn't seem to know was that it was impossible for her to hatch anything since we don't have a rooster to fertilize her eggs. We felt so sorry for her as she just sat in naive hope. Now, it's not so funny since we feel the same way.
 

Home sweet home for a broody chicken.

And these are her coopmates ready to play!

If Moe is to be any guide, she is now providing some inspiration to get up and roam around again. She gave up on her impossible quest and seems to have gotten on with life, as she knows it. She's been off the nest for a couple of months. She still hasn't started laying, and she probably won't now until the sun's path starts its trend back up to a higher point in the sky. C'mon Winter Solstice! Still, she's been through a hazy dazey broody spell, then she molted (lost a lot of her feathers and looked like a scraggly mess), but now she's fluffing up a beautiful new layer of feathers and starting out anew.

She seems unfazed by it all as she gets back into the business of being a chicken in an urban backyard. We're taking cues from her to get back to clucking around and remaining social this season. We find inspiration where we can, and we're lucky to have so many good friends to help us find ourselves again after an unbelievably exhausting few months. Thanks for the emails, the visits, the food and the persisting laughs. We're so grateful.