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Derperella turned one year old on May 9th! That seems like forever ago! The date came, and it passed, and Derp did not notice. Derp... had other things on her mind.
Babies... babies. Derp was obsessed with Babies, all of a sudden. She should have them. She should have babies!
Her sister, Coho, had just finished being broody. Derp watched as Coho sat through the hot days, in the nest box.. greedily collecting all of the other hen's eggs underneath her. Carefully, Coho would take each egg, and tuck it under her voluminous Faverolles pantaloons, and turn and tend them carefully. Derp saw how Coho was a good mother-- attacking the food lady with dainty pecks whenever she came to take the (infertile) eggs each day.
(So sorry this is sideways, I don't have any way to edit videos!)
Finally, the day came that Coho decided she was done with being broody... and she went back to being a normal Faverolles hen. Which pretty much involved walking around with an enormous cream-colored posterior, honking, and blinking dreamily up at the sky.
One day, when Coho went in to lay her egg (the first one since she was broody!), Derperella felt it would be good to join her.
Dis-- dis is how you has the babies.
And lo, Derperella became broody. But... Derp could not be broody in a normal way. That would not be Derpish... Derp had to brood invisible eggs.
Derperella stopped laying, as broodies usually do after they lay a clutch.
Derperella stopped laying, and then she started hating eggs.
How DARE any eggs come near her invisible eggs? She would go through great effort to always brood in the nest box with no eggs in it. If each box had an egg, she'd toss the egg right out!! Sometimes, when the Fud Lady came to collect eggs, she would set them up on a shelf in the nesting area while she did other chores. These, too, offended Derp, and she went to great effort to toss them out! OUT, with the imposter eggs!
The Fud Lady discovered that Derperella was very, very committed to her invisible eggs. Thus, she tried to gently break Derp from her boodiness.. encouraging her to eat and especially drink on the hot days. If the Fud Lady took Derp out of the box and put her in the coop or run, Derperella would scream, run for the nest box, and sit immediately!
So, the Fud Lady began placing Derp outside, hoping it would help. With supervision, of course.
The Fud Lady puts Derp down in the grass, plop.
Derp continues to brood the... grass. Not moving.
Coho comes over to investigate.
Coho: "I see you have some fine invisible babies, there."
Derp: *stare*
Fud Lady: "Derp, we love you. Snap out of it!"
Derp: *STARE*
Fud Lady: "Derp... won't you try some of this delicious treat? How about some sunflower seeds? A mealworm? Anything?"
Derp: *STARE*
Suddenly, for seemingly no reason, Derperella will snap out of it. She'll leap up, cackle loud enough to put a rooster to shame, and her compact football of a body will rocket down across the yard. She'll stop, turn around, and run back up toward the coop, doing the "broody cluck" the whole way. Where's her babies? WHERE'S HERE BABIES?
Then, she will eat, drink, and act normally (for Derp) for about 15 minutes.
Soon, though...
Soon she is calling her invisible baby chicks over to eat bugs. She goes through a great show of calling to them, then pointing out the food to them.. scratching and digging up wiggly morsels, offering them... to invisible chicks.
Sometimes, the other chickens watch this. Their confusion is almost tangible-- is "Derperella really feeding" invisible chicks? What even is she doing?
Moa, in particular, seems profoundly boggled by Derperella each time this happens. If chickens could form thoughts the way we do, I imagine that it would be something like this...
"Good heavens, what is she doing now? Is that... does she really? Does she really think she has chicks with her? Oh gracious, now she's feeding nothing. Is she really?"
After the chickens go back into the run, Derperella will often fly up to the outdoor perches and cackle loudly at the woods. This is a pure mystery-- perhaps she is telling the woods that it had best not even think of messing with her babies.
Sometimes, the Fud Lady goes in to pet Derp and calm her down. Derp has long done something that we call "Hand Baby" but it's never been photographed until now. The Fud Lady noticed that all of her hens like their keels stroked gently.. but sometimes, just sometimes when she does this to Derperella... Derp thinks that it's chicks! And she will shuffle down and shuffle down and nest on the Fud Lady's hand.
Thus... HandBaby.
After a month, it became clear that Derperella was not giving up. She was hardcore broody now, so help her!
The Fud Lady toyed with the idea of getting some hatching eggs for Derp. But Derp wouldn't stand for anyone else's eggs! That idea was gone.
Once the Fud Lady got the Easter Egger Chicks, she put them with Derp to see what would happen. Derp ignored them entirely! That idea was extinguished.
The Fud Lady brought Derp inside and set her in her favorite Chair. Derp lept down, and cried and cried at the door... apparently invisible babies are no good at following her in.
Oh, Derp.
(You might notice that Derp is growing her head feathers back after Gullin pulled them out this spring! Yay! She is missing her beard and muffs because of the Evil Lorp. The Lorp has since been fitted with a glamorous set of blue pinless peepers and no longer pulls out Derp's feathers.)
Babies... babies. Derp was obsessed with Babies, all of a sudden. She should have them. She should have babies!
Her sister, Coho, had just finished being broody. Derp watched as Coho sat through the hot days, in the nest box.. greedily collecting all of the other hen's eggs underneath her. Carefully, Coho would take each egg, and tuck it under her voluminous Faverolles pantaloons, and turn and tend them carefully. Derp saw how Coho was a good mother-- attacking the food lady with dainty pecks whenever she came to take the (infertile) eggs each day.
(So sorry this is sideways, I don't have any way to edit videos!)
Finally, the day came that Coho decided she was done with being broody... and she went back to being a normal Faverolles hen. Which pretty much involved walking around with an enormous cream-colored posterior, honking, and blinking dreamily up at the sky.
One day, when Coho went in to lay her egg (the first one since she was broody!), Derperella felt it would be good to join her.
Dis-- dis is how you has the babies.
And lo, Derperella became broody. But... Derp could not be broody in a normal way. That would not be Derpish... Derp had to brood invisible eggs.
Derperella stopped laying, as broodies usually do after they lay a clutch.
Derperella stopped laying, and then she started hating eggs.
How DARE any eggs come near her invisible eggs? She would go through great effort to always brood in the nest box with no eggs in it. If each box had an egg, she'd toss the egg right out!! Sometimes, when the Fud Lady came to collect eggs, she would set them up on a shelf in the nesting area while she did other chores. These, too, offended Derp, and she went to great effort to toss them out! OUT, with the imposter eggs!
The Fud Lady discovered that Derperella was very, very committed to her invisible eggs. Thus, she tried to gently break Derp from her boodiness.. encouraging her to eat and especially drink on the hot days. If the Fud Lady took Derp out of the box and put her in the coop or run, Derperella would scream, run for the nest box, and sit immediately!
So, the Fud Lady began placing Derp outside, hoping it would help. With supervision, of course.
The Fud Lady puts Derp down in the grass, plop.
Derp continues to brood the... grass. Not moving.
Coho comes over to investigate.
Coho: "I see you have some fine invisible babies, there."
Derp: *stare*
Fud Lady: "Derp, we love you. Snap out of it!"
Derp: *STARE*
Fud Lady: "Derp... won't you try some of this delicious treat? How about some sunflower seeds? A mealworm? Anything?"
Derp: *STARE*
Suddenly, for seemingly no reason, Derperella will snap out of it. She'll leap up, cackle loud enough to put a rooster to shame, and her compact football of a body will rocket down across the yard. She'll stop, turn around, and run back up toward the coop, doing the "broody cluck" the whole way. Where's her babies? WHERE'S HERE BABIES?
Then, she will eat, drink, and act normally (for Derp) for about 15 minutes.
Soon, though...
Soon she is calling her invisible baby chicks over to eat bugs. She goes through a great show of calling to them, then pointing out the food to them.. scratching and digging up wiggly morsels, offering them... to invisible chicks.
Sometimes, the other chickens watch this. Their confusion is almost tangible-- is "Derperella really feeding" invisible chicks? What even is she doing?
Moa, in particular, seems profoundly boggled by Derperella each time this happens. If chickens could form thoughts the way we do, I imagine that it would be something like this...
"Good heavens, what is she doing now? Is that... does she really? Does she really think she has chicks with her? Oh gracious, now she's feeding nothing. Is she really?"
After the chickens go back into the run, Derperella will often fly up to the outdoor perches and cackle loudly at the woods. This is a pure mystery-- perhaps she is telling the woods that it had best not even think of messing with her babies.
Sometimes, the Fud Lady goes in to pet Derp and calm her down. Derp has long done something that we call "Hand Baby" but it's never been photographed until now. The Fud Lady noticed that all of her hens like their keels stroked gently.. but sometimes, just sometimes when she does this to Derperella... Derp thinks that it's chicks! And she will shuffle down and shuffle down and nest on the Fud Lady's hand.
Thus... HandBaby.
After a month, it became clear that Derperella was not giving up. She was hardcore broody now, so help her!
The Fud Lady toyed with the idea of getting some hatching eggs for Derp. But Derp wouldn't stand for anyone else's eggs! That idea was gone.
Once the Fud Lady got the Easter Egger Chicks, she put them with Derp to see what would happen. Derp ignored them entirely! That idea was extinguished.
The Fud Lady brought Derp inside and set her in her favorite Chair. Derp lept down, and cried and cried at the door... apparently invisible babies are no good at following her in.
Oh, Derp.
(You might notice that Derp is growing her head feathers back after Gullin pulled them out this spring! Yay! She is missing her beard and muffs because of the Evil Lorp. The Lorp has since been fitted with a glamorous set of blue pinless peepers and no longer pulls out Derp's feathers.)
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