Mystery Solved

You remember Babette? She is the little fan tailed princess who waltzes around my backyard in her black and white coat of feathers. The rotten little hen had stopped laying eggs (or at least we could not find them). The other day she disappeared. An occasional chicken "gone missing" has affected our happy little flock before (dog? opposum?). The words "Babette is missing" was not laid upon ignorant ears. One of the beautiful things about farming with children is the life lessons they are taught. When joy and tragedy happen in our own little animal microcosm it gives them tools to help deal with these things in their lives later down the road.

What do you know--the next morning we saw her! She was moving fast with barely a hello and then she was gone again. Hmmmm.

Two days later we saw her again. This time we locked her in the coop to see if she was laying eggs again. The poor girl scolded, clucked and paced so much I had to let her free again. Whoosh! Away she went.

I had a suspicion that some unsolicited mothering was going on here, and unless Babette had found a rouge rooster she was up to some fruitless brooding. After searching EVERYWHERE for this nest to no avail I decided to call on the experts. $5 was offered to any child who could find this nest! The search was on.

This morning Babette came out around breakfast time. She ate some grass, she scratched the dirt and then took a speed shower in the sand box. Next, she shot off like a road-runner. She was, however, followed. Two hot and tired children came in with the report that she was in the front yard. A third child kept watch outside. Next thing I knew I was out $5 because, low and behold, the nest had been discovered by a patient, curly haired 7 year old.

Babette resides under my porch in a potting shed type of area. She has taken up house in a broken blue plastic tub where she eagerly mothers a clutch of eggs. Here is a photo of her "setting." When she gets up for her morning run I will try to dash and get more pictures.

My better sense tells me not to, but I am not listening. I am going to try to get some fertile eggs for this dear little bird. Wouldn't that be fun? So both my henny and myself are nesting, I wonder who will hatch her egg first?

So motherly, wouldn't you agree?