Broody Bantam

This is Whitie, a little Bantam hen. She is broody right now and will only leave her nest once a day to poop and eat. Rarely she'll even go out the hatch door and walk around for a while before returning to her nest and going back into a coma like state.

We knew nothing of chickens when we got our Bantams. The first time one of them went broody we thought she was in shock or sick. We'd pick her up and talk to her, trying to cheer her up.

We'd take her out and put her down with the other chickens who were playing in the yard, but she'd immediately run back to her nest and go quiet again.

We considered the idea of having to put her down, thinking she'd die a slow death in her current state and it would be more humane to do it quickly. But first, I decided to ask around and do some research.

Broody! She was broody! We were thrilled. Until two little chicks peeked out from under her one fine morning. I felt like a chicken grandmother. Now we have eleven chickens.