DIY Broody Hens with Homemade Pom-poms

Broody hens take a break! I love their color
variations that remind me of real chickens.
There is a black and white speckled, a brown,
a traditional creamy white and a bluish-purple
color versions in our collection pictured here.

       Unlike our other pom-pom crafted hens, these versions are crafted using homemade pom-poms for the extra fluffy bodies needed to keep baby chick eggs warm in the nesting boxes. 

Supply List:

• many colorful yarns
• 2 1/2" pom-poms for each head and two 3" handmade pom-poms for each body
• Sculpey clay
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• tiny red pom-poms (Four per hen; these are the wattles and comb.)
• orange acrylic paint
• tiny google eyes (two per hen)
• colorful feathers
• pipe cleaners or chenille stems
  
• twine
• light weight cardboard (cereal box)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  To make the homemade pom-poms, cut two  circles, 4", across from light weight cardboard. Put a hole at it's center 1" across. (see diagram below)
   
2. Twist yarns in and out of the cardboard until very thick. Cut between the two cardboard templates.
3. Tie twine between the two cardboard templates, knotting this very tight. Then remove he cardboard from the pom-poms.
4. Now hot glue two large, fluffy pom-poms together and shape the broody hen's body.
5. Bent and clip pipe cleaner feet and hot glue two each into the underbelly of each hen. (see photo below)
6. Hot glue 2 1/2" manufactured pom-poms together and then at the side, top area of the hen body.
7. Sculpt a beak from polymer clay and paint this orange after baking it in the oven.
8. Attach the beak, google eyes, feathers with hot glue.
9. Hot glue tiny read pom-poms down the seam of the two half inch pom-poms that make up the hen head.

A diagram that shows how to construct homemade pom-poms. These need to be extra fluffy so
that they may be shaped with scissors into the bodies of hens.

Left, these are two three inch pom-poms glued together and trimmed into a shaped body of a hen.
Center, the hen finished, Right, the pipe cleaner feet of the hen at the bottom.

Left hens seen from above, one of our crafted chickens is brown, like a Bantam Chicken.
Center, I used varegated brown yarn to craft the Bantam hen.
Right, the front side of the little Bantam as she stands on her own.

This version of the hen crafts might be considered a Blue Silkie breed.

This speckled black and white hen might be a Silver Spangled Hamburg chicken.