Higgledy Piggledy, My Black Hen

DESCRIPTION: "Higgledy piggledy, my black hen, She lays eggs for gentlemen, Gentlemen come every day To see what my black hen doth lay, Sometimes nine and sometimes ten, Higgledy piggledy, my black hen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1853 (according to Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes)
KEYWORDS: Bird chickens food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) New Zealand
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1665, "Hickerty, Pickerty, My Black Hen" (1 text)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 122, "(Hickety bickety, my black hen)" (1 text); p. 150, "(Ickety, bickey, my black hen)" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #299, p. 171, "(Hickety, pickety, my black hen)"
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 209, "Hickety, pickety, my black hen" (1 text)
Jack-PopGoesTheWeasel, p. 74, "Higgledy, Piggledy, My Black Hen" (1 text)
Dolby-OrangesAndLemons, p. 100, "Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Iona and Peter Opie, _Children's Games in Street and Playground_, Oxford, 1969, 1984, p. 38, "(Skinty, tinty, my black hen)"

Roud #13043
RECORDINGS:
Lorraine Hammond, "Higgledy Piggledy My Black Hen" (Piotr-Archive #688, recorded 10/01/2023)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cluck Old Hen" (partial theme)
NOTES [96 words]: The spelling of the first couple of words of this piece vary greatly ("Hickety, pickety," "Hickerty, pickerty," "Higgledy Piggledy"). I doubt any particular form is authoritative, so I spelled it the way I learned it way back when. I don't recall a tune, but there are enough references that it may be a traditional song.
The incomparable Katherine Elwes Thomas, The Real Personages of Mother Goose, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1930, p. 167, thinks this is about Francis Bacon and a woman from whom he purchased a chicken! Evidence for this is, of course, non-existent. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: BGMG299

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography