There is nothing a mother hen won’t do for her chicks. While she takes them around, they are in constant communication with each other. Her chicks chirp often, letting her know where they are and what they are feeling. She talks to them all day long, warning them when there is danger, and telling them when she finds something good to eat. And at the end of a long day, she provides a safe place for them to sleep under her feathers.
While they were developing in their eggs, they heard her heartbeat all day long. At night, when they sleep under her warm body, they sleep listening to her heartbeat too.
I often hear people say that chickens are so stupid. Maybe the reason they seem stupid is that people are trying to raise them in environments they aren’t designed for. Give them plenty of space to roam, interesting things to do, the opportunity to mate, for hens to hatch and rear their young, and you get to see how complex and wonderful these birds are.
When I had hens , I discovered that they were geniuses at being hens (something I would be a dunce at.)
It’s true. They are so attentive. When I was raising hatchery chicks, there were so many things to worry about like making sure the chicks were warm enough, providing them with chick scratch, etc. It was the heat lamps that bothered me the most, because it meant that the chicks never got to sleep in darkness.
A mother hen does all of that and more. I had one mother hen hatch chicks in December. I was worried how the chicks were going to stay warm, but she had no trouble keeping them plenty warm in the cool, rainy weather. I don’t even bother getting chick starter feed now because the hens crack grains and seeds for her chicks, and since she has them outdoors all day long, there is no end of things for them to eat. A week old chick can easily gobble a earthworm longer than it is.