One myth about broody hens is that the hens go all sweet and motherly. Children’s books depict the hens wearing calico scarves on their heads and smiling. I wish someone had told Blackie that’s how she’s supposed to behave. A few times a day I pick Blackie up and put her outside. It’s to be expected that she doesn’t want to leave her nest. Still, she turns into a raging henzilla. Because her feathers are all fluffed out (broody hens  do this to increase body temperature), she looks twice her size. Whichever poor girl is in her direct line of sight gets charged at. This is one bad-tempered hen. But Blackie got her comeuppance today. She went after Candy and got a beak full of rabbit hair. Blackie spent the next five minutes trying to get it off. This was such a distraction that her feathers laid down flat and she looked like the placid hen that she normally is. Unfortunately, she’s back on the nest, and her raging alter ego is back.