A section of my android hen

A larger portion, as I had to make an odd edit for the thumbnail to work properly on Steemit.

Here is the sketch ready for watercolour study.

And a gif of its watercolour layers for fun.

Now how this piece came about is twofold: One simply that I was sketching ideas for my Singularity worlds items, such as posters and art on the walls, when I had the idea to have a painting of a hen on the wall in one of my paintings; I know that is sort of meta, but what can one say?

Secondly, the inspiration came from my very real life which is peopled (if that is the correct term) with animals. I have often spoke of my hens and chicks, though I have not done a post about them in quite awhile. This is due not to the fact that I am not amused by them daily, for I surely am. It is more to do with Summer being my busiest time both with artwork and my other Summer endeavours.

One of my favourite hens is Leto.

I have written of her often, as she is my most broody hen. Here she is in one of her first endeavours to sit on a clutch of eggs.

She had only begun to lay eggs herself when she chose to sit on them. The other hens, however, weren't having it and would sit on her head or squash her down, as they also wanted to use this box to lay their eggs.

It is a well known fact, among we chicken keepers, that you can supply an endless supply of nest boxes and most or all of your hens will decide to use one and only one.

This was my case as well, having 8 hens 6 nesting boxes and this one being their favourite.

When I eventually decided to let Leto (named after the Greek Goddess of Motherhood) try her hand at hatching and raising a clutch, I simply moved her to a smaller chicken house and run I keep for new chicks or ill birds etc. It was empty and so I moved her and a batch of eggs to that spot.

As I had the choice which eggs she would hatch I decided to give her the white eggs which I knew to be from my one Polish hen. And my two roosters are self blue cochin bantams (the same breed as Leto) and I wanted to see what their cross would give me.

Here is a picture of a white polish and a self blue cochin rooster (not mine, but just to show you what I was working with)

So, I moved Leto and a collection of white hybrid Polish/chochin eggs under her and there she sat, happy as a pig in mud, or rather a hen on eggs.

I didn't really bother to write down the date and just let her have at it. She got her food and water everyday when I did the other chickens and she'd often not leave the nest so I'd give her some food in my hand and hold the water close to her. As she had no other hens to bother her, she did her duty well and presumably 21 days later we had a three hatch.

Here they are learning to eat from my finger, as I wanted them to be as tame as Leto herself, who will happily come when I give her my 'chick chick chick' call.

She is a very good mother and is always watching out for them and keeping an eye on them. At the slightest noise or movement she gives her call and off they run, under her. Here there are enjoying their first watermelon, mother happily showing them it's good to eat.

Well, it has been some time since I shared and talked about my hens and the last time I shared Leto and her chicks, in the above videos, they were still quite tiny. Now, however, over 2 months ago, the chicks are growing into little chickens.

Normally, at this stage, the mother would be sort of done with them.

But not Leto.
She not only still protects them, but the little darlings still sleep with and around her.

They look a crazy quartet each night when Leto hops into her next box and the chicks follow her up.

And rather than each roosting, as chickens usually do, on the roost, Leto and her growing babies keep up the childhood practice of sleeping under her; though they are going to one day outgrow her, as their real mother (The Polish hen) is a full sized bird.

I wonder how long will they continue this practice?

As long as I keep them separate from the other flock will this new flock of mother and babies just continue to act this way? I hope so. It's going to be hilarious to see a little hen telling full grown chickens where to get the food, when to run and hide and to snuggle up under her nice and safe for a good nights sleep.

So, you can see that it's quite normal for animals to feature in my future ideal paintings about a post Singularity world.

And even though I am painting up this android hen as a single stand alone piece, you can bet it will still most likely hang on the wall of one of my larger paintings, adorning the post Singularity world my creatures love to wander around in. It might be like an Easter Egg (pun Intended) for someone to spot it down the road in one of my larger paintings.

For now, I hope you have a great day and can have the joy of an animal in it somehow, even if it is just a sparrow in a tree or your faithful dog. Either way, know that Leto and her three offspring are happily sharing their next box and continuing their family love.

If you like my work by all means upvote, resteem, and comment. I always appreciate comments.

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And check out my other posts.

• My Art on the Blockchain at R.A.R.E. Auction![july31rareart.jpg](
• A painting and drawing study of a section of my latest Singularity piece
• A Painting in Bold: Singularity Disco
• A video piece I made years ago: Does it show the fluidity of time?

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