Bernice's Plight

Like I said in the video above, Bernice is having some issues.

Let me back up a bit. You see about a year ago our rooster died. Yes, it was quite the sad event. He was a good rooster. A handsome little fella he was and not a mean rooster like many can be. He had sort of a crooked-warbly-funny-sounding crow that used to wake me up with a smile each morning. How could you not smile at his silly little crooked crow? He was protective over his girls, but not mean to us. He let the boys come in the pen, feed them, and get the eggs. As roosters go, he was a good one. We were quite fond of him, then he just inexplicably, kind of... died. My middle son was crushed (his nickname is the chicken whisperer).

OK, back to Bernice. Bernice wants to sit on her eggs. She makes herself a sweet little nest and tries to hoard eggs and sit on them. Bernice wants to hatch baby chicks. She has even been known to peck at the boys when they try to gently sneak the eggs out from under her. She is determined to be a mama. She sits and she sits and she sits. We steal her eggs. She makes more. And she sits more.

I have tried to have 'the talk' with her. To explain exactly where baby chicks come from...you know, when a mommy chicken and a daddy chicken love each other very much... But she just cocks her head at me and sits some more.

But sit, sit, sit as she might, she can sit all summer on those eggs and without a rooster all she is going to get is...smelly eggs.

Poor Bernice.