When one of our hens went broody we had to make a decision: Should we allow her to incubate the eggs and raise the chicks or just keep taking the eggs and making omelets. We decided to let her keep the eggs. There was a real risk that none of the eggs would hatch. Modern hens are not always the best mothers. After a few weeks about half the eggs hatched, five chicks in all. We lost two over the next several days to accidents. The three that remain are fiesty little things. They are constantly scratching in the dirt under the hen house looking for tasty morsels to eat. The mother hen will guard them aggressively if our dogs wander too close. In the evening she often neglects to bring the chicks in the hen, so scoop them up and put them inside.