Two nights ago when I went out to close the chickens in their coop there were only three of them there. I looked all over the yard, under the coop..everywhere I could think of, to no avail. Panic set in quickly. It was getting dark, and I thought the girls would be nearby if they had flown out of the pen. I got my flashlight and began to look under decks and porches. I walked an ever widening search area and couldn't find them. I began to really panic, thinking of all my previous experiences with missing chickens......none of which ended well. After checking and re-checking every place I had already been, it got too dark to see anything. I came in the house, then went back out to look again. This time I was looking through tears as I imagined predators of various kinds tearing my little girls to shreds. Finally I gave up. It was a very sad evening. The dogs disappeared whenever I began crying again......they are certainly fair-weather friends and desert me whenever I am upset.
So, I went to bed and dreamed of various terrible ways a chicken could be killed. In the morning I was afraid to let the remaining chickens out before I had made a thorough check of the fence, so I was sitting at the table contemplating what the future held for me in terms of chickens. There was a knock at the door. I opened it to a woman I did not recognize. She told me she had three "roosters" in her yard, and couldn't think of anyone else they might belong to. Of course I was thrilled and followed her down the street to her house. Bonnie, Dottie, and Polka were pecking contentedly on her back lawn.
If you know chickens, you won't be surprised that it took us over an hour to capture them all. I drove my car to her house and tossed them in the back seat one by one as we caught them. The fact that they survived the night seems like a miracle, but I guess most predators are still hibernating.....or at least not hungry. As a thank you, I delivered a dozen eggs to their savior.
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