Oh, she looks innocent enough, but she's a sly one. She escaped, along with two or three other pullets and a white rooster, from the neighbor's "coop." Granted, what our city-slicker neighbors set up for their chickens doesn't look capable of keeping fowl in or predators out, but they do still have a few hens contained in it. The stupid ones, perhaps? For awhile now, this fugitive is the only one I've seen occasionally; the rest, I'm guessing, picked off by coyotes or that bobcat I saw while riding one day. This week she's been seen hanging out in our pastures and around the chicken yard - scheming, no doubt, about setting our ladies free so she has some company again. Or maybe she just wants to improve her odds; you know, you don't have to be faster than the predator, just faster than one other loose chicken. Anyway, we've tried several times to corner her, without success. This afternoon, however, with the help of my able assistants Brian and Jackson, I managed to nab her.
Isn't she a beauty, with those blond streaks on her neck? Is she a red Sex-Link? I've named her Lucille, even though she isn't ours and we plan to return her to her owners tomorrow. She dove into the Layena crumbles, making the other girls think there must be something new and exciting in the feeder; free-ranging must not be all it's cracked up to be. Being the new hen in the henhouse isn't so great, either; she's going to look a bit worse for wear when we have a chance to take her home.That's it for now at . . .
7 comments:
Well the fugitive is beautiful, even if her reign of freedom is now over ... :-)
I think the neighbors should suggest that you keep her because:
(1) you caught her
(2) their pen is possibly inadequate
(3) it's Valentines Day
(4) she looks very happy in your coop
(5) she's beautiful!
Lol - good job Brian, Jackson and Michelle!! Chickens ARE hard to catch especially when they've 'gone wild'. Poor girl, she WOULD be better off with you.
Oh my gosh....too funny. I clicked on your post really thinking a fugitive from the law was on the loose!
As much as I may have liked to keep Lucille (being a barely-contained chicken addict and all), Rick and Brian went over and talked to the neighbor lady and she came and got Lucille, who is indeed a Red Sex-Link. Lucille was probably glad to leave us, as the Boulderneigh hens weren't kind. She left relatively unscathed, though - and I think she even left us a parting gift! I found a very muddy, very large brown egg in the chicken yard when I went in to catch her. I would have assumed it was Welsie's, so large and dark it was, but there was a Welsie egg in a nesting box.
Chicken wrangling! I love it!
Good for you catching the beautiful fugitive. Her blonde highlights are stunning.
She must be one tough, lucky gal to survive being the odd girl out in your flock.
My hen didn't fare as well when I gave her to a friend, who didn't separate her from her flock for a few days.
Her flock murdered my hen overnight. :(
But my hen was sweet, trusting and tame, unlike your wild fugitive.
~Lisa
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