The hen is back on the nest. Now this isn't news... hens are generally expected to sit on their nests, doing their duty to nurture and protect the prospetive chickies through gestation. But this wanna be momma has lost all sense of limitations re: her responsibilities. I wrote about her the other day - how she's been nesting since before Thanksgiving. I took her off the nest that day and put her in w/the others - in her own little nesting box. However, over the course of the last few days, the chicks in that living space have been able to come and go as I did not keep the coop locked. Well, guess where she is? Yep - back on the nest where I didn't get rid of the eggs. She has been sitting for about 3 consecutive days and continues to sit and wait, through the bitter cold and today's snow. I don't know what to do - or if I should do anything. She is spending her life waiting for something that will never happen and who am I to determine she should do otherwise? But, but, she's a chicken. She doesn't know those eggs will never hatch. I know they won't but she doeesn't. Is there any level of chicken awareness that will reveal that piece of information to her so that she can continue to go on with the business of living? Which isn't much more than eating, pecking, scratching and sleeping. Not quite the full itinerary that us humans have. Our days can be as full or empty of activity as we like - theoretically speaking. Some of us have full schedules that have more to do with the simple desire to live and meet basic needs while others have the freedom to decide how full or empty they want their days to be.
And The Vinny - (her name - sort of) is free from all the angst and expectation that we have upon awaking each morning. There is no thinking - no considering the fact that her due date came and went weeks ago. She doesn't care or more likely - she doesn't process that reality..she just sits and waits; sits and waits. And I can only assume that she is fine with it. I really shouldn't let her just sit there...it's cold, bitterly cold and there is nothing that is going to come out of this...other than a frostbitten comb. Yet I also wish I had her persistence and determination...if I did maybe at least one of my collection of ideas would come to fruition. One book, play, collection of poems, children's story, something would be finished. Or I would have found a way to pursue earning a living that would provide more income so that we could finish the many un-done projects around here - house or farm. Something would be done. But it's all a work in progress. Dave feels that it being a work in progress is progress. I understand that there are things which have been accomplished but I want the Big Project to be closer to done. You know, the upstairs bathroom which has been waiting for 3 years...or the downstair bathroom which needs to be moved...or the other side of the house which could conceivably be an apartment - thereby serving 2 purposes; that of providing someone w/a home and providing us w/income. The stalls would be done, the chicken coops completed, other avenues of income would be open to us...but then we're back to the beginning of the circle. Dave finds his satisfaction in the working on the projects. I don't mind and even enjoy it but want to see some completion. And then I go out and see The Vinny. And she just is....
Still is....I think I need some of that.
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