Our chickens have a nice little set up here. They have their chicken coop to stay out of the elements. They have a fenced in pen, so outside animals don’t hurt them. They have a goat in the pen to ward off any animals that would want to come from the sky to hurt them. Yep, they’ve got it made!
When they do decide to leave their pen, there are two lines of pine trees for them to hide in. Then there is the rest of the yard for them to wander about. You would think they would be the world’s happiest chickens! But, they still wander. They wander in to the field. And sometimes, sometimes they do cross the road!
When the farmer took the corn in a few weeks ago, I had some hens go in to hiding. The loud noise so close to the house scared them. I haven’t had a full count since then. More have been popping up, so I figured they had been hiding out in our other barn or our un-mowed area. I have gone out and looked for them across the field, in case they ran the wrong way when the tractor came. But I hadn’t seen them out that far.
Then yesterday I got a message. A house probably around a quarter of a mile from here had a black hen show up in their yard about a week ago. They hadn’t been able to catch the chicken. It was hiding out in the bushes by their porch. I took my best chicken-catcher kiddo with me today. And sure enough, it was one of our chickens! We caught her and brought her home. I am still amazed that she went so far away!!! Chickens aren’t know for their long journeys! Especially by themselves! Ours tend to travel in packs around the yard.
Tonight I am thankful that the nice neighbor was searching for the owner of the hen! I didn’t really reach out to anyone. I hear coyotes in the woods across the field. I honestly didn’t expect a wayward hen to survive on her own. And I certainly didn’t expect her to make it so far away! I am so thankful she was alive and well! She calmed right down when we caught her. And she had a peaceful ride home ❤
Bug's Bright Side 