Things that make you say, "huh!"

This is a picture of a broodie chicken. Her name is RoBirda. I didn't know much about broodie chickens until this year. If you don't know, either, you might find this to be of interest. Chickens get "broodie" when they want to hatch eggs. We have bred the broody trait out of many birds so that they will produce eggs and not try to hatch them. When they are broody they stop laying eggs. Their sole and single minded purpose is to keep the nest warm so chicks will hatch. Robirda goes into this state where she she is perfectly still for hours on end. She only leaves the nest once or twice a day to eat, drink and defecate. Or if I lift her off and put her outside! When I do lift her off, she remains in her hunkered down position, staring into space for several minutes. Then she shakes herself, preens, flaps her wings a bit and eats a little, then heads back to the nest.

I don't want her to brood, because as we have no rooster, there are no fertilized eggs, and because brooding can be hard on a birds body, and it is very, very cold here now. I'd rather she be up eating and moving around, not starving herself in the frigid weather. But she has other plans. I took this photo today when I lifted her off the nest and put her on the picnic table. She remained there, in the snow, like a bird statue until I took pity on her and got her back to the coop.


Her behaviour is something that makes me say, "Huh!"