Like this:

One of our four laying hens “went broody” this past May, and “broody” Jeannie has remained despite our repeated efforts to cure her of this annoying condition.  Broodiness can best be compared to a false pregnancy in humans or a bizarre state of utter bird-brained insanity somewhat akin to the “Henny Penny” syndrome.

Jeannie is so determined to hatch a brood of chicks that she sits in the nesting box constantly–all day long except for occasions when we deliberately pull her out  to eat, drink, poop, and forage.  And, even while she is out of this would be “maternity ward,”  she cannot refrain from performing her strange little dance in which she raises and lowers her head to the ground several times  prior to shaking all of her feathers out.   Then back into the hen house she races on her  pantaloon- shaped , t-rex legs at full tilt,  frantically flying up the green plastic staircase of her Eglu Cube coop, and onto the  hay-filled nesting box.  Clucking softly to herself,  she settles into her well worn spot festooned with black feathers from her belly which  she has plucked bald in hopes of offering proper incubation for her imaginary chicks to be.

Ironically, a broody hen stops laying her own eggs,  so we haven’t seen one of Jeannie’s beautiful powder blue eggs in months now; yet whenever one of her “sisters” lays her egg, Jeannie is ready to roost on it.  She lowers herself onto the egg with the utmost care, nudging it tenderly under her belly with her beak.  We have even observed her in the act of “stealing” an egg out from under one of her sister hens while the latter hen is happily roosting away–a brazen act which inevitably leads to pandemonium in the hen house.  Once ensconced on an egg,  Jeannie l patiently sits and sits and sits….Even when the eggs are gathered up from under her, she continues to sit on nothing until she is lifted  out of the box and set on the ground.

An Ameracauna breed, Jeannie’s glossy black feathers  shimmer with an irridescent evergreen hue.   Her face is framed by feathered muffs that are characteristic of her breed and accentuate the perpetually silly expression on her face.  Unfortunately, being the smallest of the flock,  she occupies the bottom rung of the pecking ladder,  enduring far too many harsh pecks from the other ladies in the hen yard.  Being a scrappy bird, however,  Jeannie  has learned whom to give a wide berth to while  scratching and pecking for tasty morsels in the yard.  And, her primary tormentor, Frances–a large barred Plymouth rock hen–makes it her life’s mission to keep itty biddy Jeannie in her proper place!

We have tried numerous approaches to curing Jeannie  of her broodiness but to no avail.  We placed her in a smaller coop away from her sisters hoping she would snap out of it by being thwarted in her efforts to gain access to the main nesting area.  She squawked and squawked indignantly, making such an ungodly din that we finally caved in, letting her have her way.

So, what can be learned from such a determined bird?  I like to think that each of God’s creatures can offer us humans a legitimate life lesson.  Perhaps Jeannie’s purpose is to remind us that we should be as focused on our lives’ true missions as she is with her hopeful vision of hatching her “eggs.”  We  have come really close to securing some fertilized eggs for her,  knowing what an attentive mother hen she would be.  Not willing to get emotionally involved with a new flock though, we will just let her be broody.  Surely, broodiness is its own reason for being. I wonder if Descartes would agree?

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