Melancholy Hen and Remarkable Mice

Another incident that comes to mind happened years before that when Joe and Ed were staying on the farm. Late in the fall, I found a broody hen that had laid a dozen or so eggs under a wagon that was parked out in the open behind the barn. The hen was sitting on them trying to hatch her chicks. This was very unusual as it was very late in the season. However, I decided to give her a chance and I gave her as much protection from the weather as possible but it was not to be. A few days later we had a heavy snow storm of about eight inches. The hen remained on the job covered and surrounded by snow, but after two days she had to leave the nest to get food and water and of course, the snow fell in and covered the nest. I felt sorry for that hen and it reminded me of Bobby Burns' poem, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."
On that same wagon, at one time we discovered a nest of field mice in some discarded burlap--a mother and several young ones. When they were disturbed, the mother ran away with the young ones all hanging on her tail. This seemed so unusual that Ed ran and got his camera and was able to get a good picture of the mouse with the young ones hanging on her tail. I saw that picture years later and it still seems remarkable.