Angry Mother Hen

Chicken
Originally uploaded by Jepster.

...and speaking of eggs.

A few weeks ago, I was watering the plants at my plantbox (my flat has a small plantbox just outside my window). Summer has arrived and the few scraggly plants living (barely) in that space looked like they needed a good soaking. I was so busy the past few weeks that I didn't had time to check their condition. There was a water valve connected to a perforated pipe that ran through its length so I just opened the valve and let the water spray the ground a couple of minutes. I purposely let the water flood the box a little bit so the water could really soak through the roots of the plants. Imagine my surprise when I was about to turn off the valve when I saw a floating chicken! It wasn't dead or anything like that. It was trying its best to sit still at the far corner of the plant box. Then I realized that it was a hen and she was trying to keep her eggs warm! I immediately turned off the valve and tried to shoo away the chicken to see if there really were eggs beneath her but she wouldn't budge. I really do not want any direct contact with live birds with the avian flu epidemic and all so I just let her be.

All throughout the following weeks, I would take a peek outside and look at the hen. She would be exactly where she was day after day seemingly not leaving the corner at all. I was feeling sad for the chicken thinking that the eggs probably died because of the "flash flood" I caused and that she probably wouldn't leave the eggs even if they would not ever hatch. I imagined the chicken eventually dying of hunger or something.

I woke up very early this morning due to an irritating intermittent chirping sound that I could not quite place. The first thing I checked was the chicken and I was pleased to discover cute little spotted yellow chicks huddling close to their mother hen. I whipped out my digital camera and the mother hen became so agitated that she tried to puff up her feathers to appear twice as large and I think she was ready to peck my finger off when I tried to get a close up shot.

With the cats, rabbits, turtles, chickens, and even a couple of deer wandering around the compound, the place is starting to look like a wildlife preserve.

By the way, the chirping sound that woke me up did not come from the chicks or the mother hen. I found out much later that it actually came from my low on power Motorola 2-way handheld radio. Stupid radio.