Brooding

Saturday, March 12, 2022

A customer walked into the store….

Said she has a rooster needing to be rehomed. Unfortunately, I have two roosters, one in the same boat as hers.

We talked more, and of course, about chickens. She described having a “broody hen,” a dedicated chick mom who raises adoptees. The customer took today’s header photo of that hen and a baby purchased from the feed store where I work. She had slipped that infant chick under the broody hen’s wing. The hen raised the baby.

I hear many stories about someone having slipped one or more live babies under a broody hen. An adopting hen eliminates needs to tub-brood. The same happens by slipping an egg or two under a broody hen. She will hatch and raise the chick(s).

Chickens are very cool. People “in the know” claim they’re smarter than the birds generally get credit for being. My experience agrees.

Maybe not, however, when it comes to roosters. They’re causes for wonder. Take my two, which have a great home, and always would, by getting along together and not treating me as an enemy. Roosters, so beautiful, but in my experience smart as “dingbats.”

Dear Friends: Don’t forget that clock-time has jumped forward an hour. Diana