I live in the suburbs and extremely close to major intersections and highways, tons of businesses and buildings around so you would think (or at least I did) that parking lot hens, roosters, and ducks wouldn't be a thing since we have such small patio areas. But you (well, I) would be wrong. First it started with just a rooster. Then it was a couple of roosters. And now it's like 6 or 7 hens and 3 roosters. You can imagine my delight at the constant crowing. 🙄

Anyway, in our patio, we have a pet carrier that we rarely use just sitting out on a chair. A few weeks ago, we noticed a hen taking notice of it (see the first photo) climbing into it, and laying eggs it! \[photos 1 - 5\] (Brownie points if you can tell me what breed of chicken this is because I have no idea). And there's another smaller hen who was also laying eggs there... climbing into the pet carrier and dropping an egg where the first hen had already dropped hers. (I have no photos of the second hen). I bought a couple of fake wooden eggs to encourage them to keep coming back and it worked. They adopted me, I adopted them back.

So, we've been taking the eggs and using them and it's been great. However, in the last few days I noticed the original hen getting broody and I know nothing about chickens but I know that I don't want a chicken in my pet carrier 24/7 so I fashioned out a nest for her from a cardboard box and a towel. Kicked her out of the pet carrier, closed it, and moved the egg to the nest box below the chair I made and ta-da! Worked like a charm. She has moved her broody ass to the box below the chair! (see photo 6). And then I built an identical nesting under the chair right beside it and out a fake egg in it just in case the other smaller hen decides to come back and keep laying eggs here.

I'm going to let the original hen (whom I have named Regina George... the smaller one I don't have a photo of I call Gretchen Wieners) brood there under the chair because another hen just recently hatched three chicks nearby at a neighbor's (see the last three photos), so I figured why not let this one try to be a mom too.

Anyway, that's it. That's the story. I guess I'll let you know if she manages to hatch any chicks in a few weeks and if Gretchen Wieners comes back and occupies the nest next to her. Oh yeah, and if anyone knows what breed of chicken my adopted broody is, let me know!

Hens adopted me?