My Chicken Story: The Favourite Hen

I don’t have kids, but I imagine that lots of folks secretly, or maybe not so secretly, favour one child over another. That might not be socially acceptable but I can see how it happens: despite one’s best intentions you’re drawn to one more than another, or you connect on a different level or just plain like the way one has turned out. I might not have children, but I do have a flock of chickens and can tell you they’re not all interchangeable. Some distinguish themselves due to their beauty, personality, friendliness or the way that we interact with, and relate to, them.

The following are stories about just those kind of hens: the ones that stand out in a flock; the ones you love now and will miss when they are gone.

Meleah Morrison

Y’all won’t believe what happened today in the tales of Ms. Rosie. She was the ringleader for the Thanksgiving turkey carcass cleanup crew! About 30 minutes later I heard LOUD chicken clucking, and I thought something is out there, maybe the turkey attracted a predator. I ran out; it was Rosie, in the coop, she laid an egg! Yup, her almost 11-year-old self laid an egg and announced it to the world! I ran out quickly without my phone or I would have recorded her singing! But here she is afterwards, looking proud of herself.

Rebecca Billey

Karen’s gone broody again and is trying to hatch her food dish. I can’t put eggs under her; she’s special needs (neurological issues), hence the food dish. I usually give her a couple of days, then she forgets what she’s doing and is back to her normal glorious self.

Robin Choate Proctor

We did a thing today. This sweet girl went seriously broody yesterday. Painfully broody. Since I have no rooster, a sweet friend brought over five fertilized eggs. It was the coolest thing to watch her get her the eggs. She gently tucked them under her feathers and then sweetly made her sounds to them as if to say, “I am your mommy”. It was really sweet.

Cristelyn Quindo Fernandez

Lessons Learned From A Hen:

1. She first lays enough eggs before sitting on them: good planning

2. When she starts incubating/sitting on her beautiful eggs, she minimizes movement: discipline

3. She physically looses weight while sitting on her eggs due to decreased feeding: sacrifice and self-denial

4. She can sit on eggs from another hen: indiscriminate and generous

5. She sits on her eggs patiently for 21days and even if they don’t hatch she will lay eggs again: faith, hope and courage

6. She detects unfertilized eggs and rolls them out: sensitive and discerning

7. She abandons the unhatched and rotten eggs and starts caring for the hatched ones, even if it’s only one chick: wise, conscious and realistic

8. No one can touch her chicks: protective and loving

9. She gathers all her chicks together: unity of purpose

10. She doesn’t abandon her chicks before they mature: mentoring

Live your dreams, one day they will hatch and you see them grow!

Diann Fisher Bottorff

Every morning our beautiful big Waddles, one of three of our Lavender Orpingtons likes to come through the bedroom window for snuggles.

Lauren Spruell

These three hens all co-parent this chick because they gave up on their eggs and decided to act like this one was theirs. I gave up on putting them back on their eggs because they just climb right back in here and spend all day following this one around and taking turns showing it stuff. It’s cracking me up.

Shannon Dykstra

I’m not new to chickens; not totally new to a house chicken, but sort of. I raise my chicks indoors for four weeks (then slowly integrate them outside). I hold them often, which helps with training. I hatched chicks to go under broodies and one was a late hatch and the hen didn’t want her, so I raised her inside. We got to the point she was outside by day and came in every night to sleep for a year. Then she finally stopped begging to come in and actually slept in the coop next to her boyfriend.

Soon after, my favourite chicken ever, Hot Lip, who is well known in my community (been invited everywhere and was on Nashville news once) had to have emergency life-saving surgery on her crop. She almost died, but the surgery was successful! During this traumatic experience, she had to stay inside. Her surgery was early October and she’s healed completely and gained weight back and loves being inside with me. She’s got manners, she follows rules, knows basic English, will ask to go out back (away from other chickens who no longer remember her) to dust bathe and pecks the glass to come back in. If I laugh, she laughs. If dogs bark when the driveway alarm goes off, she barks (or some weird noise she makes). If she’s in the other room on her perch and hears me, she’ll call to me to come get her. She has always loved to be held more than anything in life and at six years of age she’s never once pecked.

Roxy Barr

I never thought my chickens would become so attached to my boy but let me tell you about Sweetie. She is a hen that is all grown up from a wee chick. We raised her. Her breed is usually a DO NOT TOUCH ME breed. Rhode Island Reds like to be left alone. However, Sweetie is just that: sweet. She follows my boy around the yard and she jumps in his lap whenever she can. She has gotten accustomed to seeing Big E every single morning and having her pats and hugs. So much so, that now when he leaves the yard for the bus she tries to go too. Two days ago she almost made it to the bus. She ran like hell to catch him. The bus driver chuckled and closed the door. Yesterday she got out of the yard and went after him again. I caught her in time before she made it halfway to the bus.

Today she sat in his lap for ten minutes and then when it was time for him to leave ran as fast as her little feet could carry her to the gate to wait for the opportunity to run to the bus with him, bless her heart. I picked her up and held her high enough to see him leave before I set her down again. You can rest assured she will be waiting and watching when he returns from school because that’s how she is.

If there ever was a moment you thought that chickens were a mindless, stupid bird I’m here to show you that you are wrong. She loves this boy and knows when he’s leaving and when he’s returning. She comes to the front just to wait for him. I don’t know about you but I do know that my son has loved chickens from the age of two. I don’t believe it’ll ever change! This is Sweetie, Big E’s bok bok (he’s five now and just calls her his sweetie).