I Missed My Chicken!
This is the worry-worn face of a grown woman who nearly cried when she found her lost chicken today.
I first noticed that my favorite chicken, the only one with a name (Henny Penny), was missing late last evening. All the hens tend to group up at the end of the day and preen while sitting on our patio furniture and she was nowhere to be seen.
I called and called, which usually has her come running from pretty much any corner of the farm, but she didn't come. I checked the usual chicken haunts but I couldn't find her. I went to bed with a pit in my stomach, truly worried for her fate.
This morning she was still gone and a huge red-tailed hawk was circling close over the farm while I did chores. At that point, I decided that she had likely been eaten by a hawk. We have tons of them moving through the area as fall migration begins in earnest and since she was always wandering off by herself, she would have been a prime target.
Tonight while doing chores, I noticed one of the other hens (the only one that had ever paid Henny Penny any kind of attention) scratching around the newly stacked hay bales in the main barn. We just got our final load of hay on Saturday and while most were in the loft, we had made a big stack of bales on the main floor for initial feeding. This hen was just acting weird and I decided to investigate, thinking she had cornered a mouse (our chickens are terrifying hunters).
I walked over and knelt down and swore I heard a hen...and not the one beside me. Evie and I chased her out and shut the door so we could listen and I called out in my most cajoling chicken voice.
And heard a faint cluck in return.
So we started tearing the entire hay stack down...one 70-pound bale at a time. And there she was....stuck in the furthest back corner with absolutely no room to move. How she got back and why she spent that much time crawling through the hay to get there is beyond me but she was there and she was alive.
I picked her up and although bedraggled, dehydrated and hungry, she was no worse for wear. In fact, she had even laid an egg while stuck in there!
I fixed Henny Penny up with a piece of bread soaked in milk and honey and she seems to be ok after her adventure.
And I, for one, am finding myself disturbingly happy to have found my chicken again. Who knew one could get this attached to a giant fluff of feathers and clucking?
I first noticed that my favorite chicken, the only one with a name (Henny Penny), was missing late last evening. All the hens tend to group up at the end of the day and preen while sitting on our patio furniture and she was nowhere to be seen.
I called and called, which usually has her come running from pretty much any corner of the farm, but she didn't come. I checked the usual chicken haunts but I couldn't find her. I went to bed with a pit in my stomach, truly worried for her fate.
This morning she was still gone and a huge red-tailed hawk was circling close over the farm while I did chores. At that point, I decided that she had likely been eaten by a hawk. We have tons of them moving through the area as fall migration begins in earnest and since she was always wandering off by herself, she would have been a prime target.
Tonight while doing chores, I noticed one of the other hens (the only one that had ever paid Henny Penny any kind of attention) scratching around the newly stacked hay bales in the main barn. We just got our final load of hay on Saturday and while most were in the loft, we had made a big stack of bales on the main floor for initial feeding. This hen was just acting weird and I decided to investigate, thinking she had cornered a mouse (our chickens are terrifying hunters).
I walked over and knelt down and swore I heard a hen...and not the one beside me. Evie and I chased her out and shut the door so we could listen and I called out in my most cajoling chicken voice.
And heard a faint cluck in return.
So we started tearing the entire hay stack down...one 70-pound bale at a time. And there she was....stuck in the furthest back corner with absolutely no room to move. How she got back and why she spent that much time crawling through the hay to get there is beyond me but she was there and she was alive.
I picked her up and although bedraggled, dehydrated and hungry, she was no worse for wear. In fact, she had even laid an egg while stuck in there!
I fixed Henny Penny up with a piece of bread soaked in milk and honey and she seems to be ok after her adventure.
And I, for one, am finding myself disturbingly happy to have found my chicken again. Who knew one could get this attached to a giant fluff of feathers and clucking?
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