The Great Chicken Escape

The Girls move like a herd.
One is never too far from the others.

Last week hubby and I had to attend a two day conference in a city that was about an hour away from home.  Since leaving two kids overnight, especially during the week, isn't always the easiest thing to do, we enlisted the help of our faithful babysitters to help us coordinate.  They watched the kids in the morning and took them to school, and picked them up from school, and we would come home for supper and leave again the next morning.  Repeat.

Now, our babysitters are now 19 and 21 and more like sisters or aunts to our boys, like little sisters to me, and have come to my rescue more than just a handful of times. They are very used to our pre-farm and all of the animals that come with it.  Sophie, our un-protector dog, Binx my sweet panther cat, Mittens the fat lazy cat, Taffy the barn cat ( or garage cat, awaiting her barn..) and 'The Girls' outback- the hens are the current residents of our pre-farm (and our newest cat, Cotton, who I will tell you all about later).  They have to handle all of the animals when they are babysitting, to some degree, with the exception of The Girls (chickens), that is... until now.  With us leaving so early, we figured B (our oldest) could handle his usual morning chicken duties, as he does every other day.  We left for the conference and B would feed and water the chickens.

Fast forward 6 hours.  We are sitting in an amphitheater, lecture style, listening to the speaker when my phone vibrates- a message from Em (babysitter):

Em: How many chickens do you have now? ( knowing as recently sold one)
Me: Three.  Why.....
Em; When we got home from school your chickens were out of the coop, in the yard.  But there are only two of them.  B must have left the door open.
Me; Oh no!
Em; L and I are going to go for a walk to see if we can find the other one.

So, time passed and I sat in the lecture theater, an hour away, worrying.  I then posted on a local lost pet facebook group in hopes someone would see her wandering around.

One hour passes.

Em: So, B walked in from school and went outside and checked your coop.  The third one is back.

She was in the coop, up on the perch the whole time. Such a relief!  I was also very happy that Bridgette and Hawkeye, who had spent the day grazing in the backyard, love their home with us so much that they didn't leave.  It makes my heart happy that they are content here.

In chicken relationship news, as posted before, Not-Ewe was sold last week.  She was picking on the others, seemingly a new chicken each week, and I had had enough of the unrest.  She went to a local organization for under privileged children that is starting a small hobby farm.  They free range in large areas out there, so she should be happier.  Since her departure our little hen sorority has been so peaceful.  Bridgette's laying had never waivered with Not-Ewe's nasty behaviour, but I had noticed a small decline in Hawkeye and Smokey's laying.  Now that Not-Ewe is gone, everyone is consistently laying an egg a day, with everyone taking a one-day break about once a week. I'm so impressed with my lovely little egg layers!  I have been asked if I am going to get another hen.  To that, I'm just not sure yet.  I would love to get a hen that lays green eggs (as we currently have brown, pale cream/pinky, and blue) but honestly I'm afraid to disturb the peacefulness we have right now.  I guess time will tell.