It takes a village... even in the country

Here is a funny little story for you.

In our flock of chickens reside these 2 little hens.  The one with the white/grey around her head is Aunty.   The one with the brownish feathers around her head is one of Aunty's daughter... she is one of 3 ghetto crazy kung fu fighting sisters who have no name.  Last summer these 2 hens went broody at the same time.  (That means that they tried to hatch babies out of eggs.)  It is a very annoying time for the egg collector (me) because those witches the hens try to scratch your eyes out everytime you so much as glance in their direction protect their eggs.  So instead of wringing their necks upsetting them every time I went out to collect, I decided to let them have a couple eggs to hatch.  Once they have a baby to fuss over the broodiness goes away.  So I marked and left some eggs for the 2 hens to set on. 

(Please note: It is important to mark any eggs left to set so that you don't accidently collect eggs that have been allowed to, ummmm well, grow fetus inside them... take my word for it... mark your eggs.)

So the 2 hens, mother and daughter, nested side by side for a time.  Weeks past.

One morning I went out for my eggs and found a chick!!  A sweet little fuzz ball was hanging out under Aunty.  The next day the fuzz ball was under the other chicken!  She was Mama hopping!  No other eggs hatched.  Just the 1... and 2 Mommies wanted her!!!  So my silly little chickens (at this point they were no longer kung fu fighters broody) worked together and raised that little chick.

And that's my sweet little story of how it takes a village... even in the country.