Tuesday 19 February 2013

The wanderer returns

Last night we had a missing hen. It was one of the new rhode rocks. We closed up the henhouses as usual but instead of 17 hens in them, there were only 16. I shone the torch into the neighbouring hedgerows. Last year a few of our new hens tried to roost for the night in hawthorn bushes. Yet there was no sign of her and a quick check of the allotment produced nothing. Back on the allotment this morning and no sign of her when I arived. And then she appeared. I have no idea where she spent the night. There are foxes in the area though they stay away from the allotment in daylight. That means any hen taking a midnight jaunt around the patch is vulnerable. Fortunately, luck was on her side. And tonight, thankfully, she decided to tuck herself up in one of the henhouses.

3 comments:

cripplewing said...

I'm glad to hear the "chick" has returned!Do you ever clip their wings?

Jonathan Wallace said...

We used to clip their wings but don't do so now. We found that even with wings clipped, they still managed to hop over fences.

jon kirby said...

it's hard to have it both ways.
free ranging or coup'd up.

I built a yard around my hen house
and that worked best but as soon as i let then go free ranging the dogs came in and killed them. Also i didn't trust the eggs after that as they liked to lay them everywhere else.

good luck jon
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