My Broody Hen

 

Chanel -- who was not broody but was willing to pose!

I’ve been keeping chickens for three years.  In that time, we’ve had dozens of eggs, endless amusement, and one broody hen.  There is no rooster in residence, and so there is no possibility of biddies.  But she did not know that.  She gathered her little clutch of eggs, one of her own and several from the other hens.  And she began to sit.  And sit.  And sit.  

 When a hen is sitting on fertile eggs, the eggs will hatch in about three weeks.  During that time, the hen rarely leaves the nest, even to eat and drink.  She sometimes plucks out her own chest feathers to cushion the nest.  By the time the eggs hatch, she has weakened and lost weight. 

 

A broody hen may sit indefinitely without intervention.  A hen can die if left to brood.  It is a powerful instinct, something that rises up in that bird’s brain and compels sacrifice in order to bring something new to life.  But we intervened, took her off the nest (she was not happy…), and separated her from the others in a crate for a couple of days. When I put her in the crate, she started drinking water and eating right away.  When she returned to the flock, she was her old self.  

 

I’ve been thinking about my broody hen.  In many folks, there is an instinct to bring newness to life, even if the act of doing so is costly.  We sacrifice; we go without; we keep at it.  But sometimes the new idea, service, program, whatever, will not hatch no matter what we do.  Not all that we nurture is fertile. Our instincts, powerful though they may be, are not always productive.  Not every instinct needs to be acted on.  Sometimes we need to get off the nest, have a little something to eat and drink, and rejoin our flock.  

 

It is also good to remember that in the beginning, when all was waste and wild, the Spirit of God brooded over the waters.  God moved over nothingness and called up life and breath and being.  The world was hatched under the infinite wings of the Spirit. And under those same wings, those covering feathers, I find refuge (Ps 91:4) and comfort and new life.  And I need not brood about anything!