Laughable

Do you know what a Silkie is? It’s a kind of chicken. A small, fluffy, absurd chicken.

We have a little black Silkie that is dwarfed by all the full-size hens around it. She always looks a little bedraggled and pathetic, but perhaps that’s just the way Silkies look when surrounded by full plumage. I think of her as the gentle soul in the coop, the Little Princess, so to speak.

Well, she has only just begun to be brave enough to lay her petite little eggs in the nests instead of in her little nest on the ground. And just two days ago… I suspected something that has made us all laugh.

Little Princess Silkie, the Ugly Duckling… is broody! (meaning she is sitting on her nest and refuses to budge… she’s trying to hatch some chicks!)

Now, I’ve since looked up a little more about Silkies and learned that being excellent mothers is common for the breed, despite my doubts as to whether she can keep an egg warm with her little body. And so, I may laugh, but I am going to put one or two eggs under her to let her hatch them. She is such a sweet little thing. It’s nice to see her in her element. 🙂

Our little silkie in the big nest.

By contrast, our broody Buff Orpington fills the temporary broody nest with her broad body in the ‘chick room”.