A Little Trickery

After trying out the sheep's hay feeder for a few days, the renegade hen decided it wasn't the best place to raise a family. Those sheep noses can be unnerving. Instead, she chose the corner of the sheep stall. In the past few days, she has made a nest and laid two eggs. A broody hen will lay an egg a day until she has a clutch of six or eight eggs. Then, she'll sit on the eggs until they hatch 21 days later. That is, of course, if the eggs are fertile. If they aren't, she will sit and sit and sit. After 30 or 40 days, she may give up and leave the nest. So, I, being the meddler, want to increase her chances of hatching chicks. Today, when she returns to the nest to lay her egg, I imagine she will look at it cock-eyed and wonder if her math is poor or if she's suffering from amnesia. She will wonder why there are eight eggs in her clutch.