Chick-Napper Alert

Beware the hens who have too much maternal instinct

Broody, clucky, mother hen - chickens are well known to be very serious about the business of raising their young. Anyone who has ever tried to stop a determined hen going broody will know how hard it is to change her mind. A friend of mine once had a hen go broody for 12 weeks. He’d removed all the eggs, destroyed her nest and moved her to a light, cool area, but still she sat there, brooding on her own feet, for three months. This was an admittedly exceptional case, but there are plenty of examples of obsessive behaviour in mother hens.