Poorly chicken

[mullethunter]

My girls are confined (except Camilla who really needs her wings clipping) to a section of the back garden which has a footpath running alongside it. I’ve put a low fence in the hedge hat borders the footpath, but I’ve left a couple of gaps large enough for hedgehogs to get through. That was fine until I got Dutch bantams, but they’re no bigger than hedgehogs so if they’re foraging along the fence line there are a couple of places they could get through. I think it happens accidentally and they usually just come back through. Yesterday though Snap must’ve gone through and then was chased by a dog. The lady whose dog it was said Snap was off down the road at high speed.

This was about 7:30 yesterday evening so nearly bed time - he’d had their corn. OH and I went off in the direction the lady said she’d gone, shouting, rattling corn, looking in the undergrowth and trees. Nothing. But she’s small and brown so if she was hunkered down and keeping still she’d be nearly impossible to find. After an hour we gave up and hoped she’d find somewhere safe to spend the night and maybe turn up in the morning.

We came back to the house, and there’s she was - in the front ‘garden’ wandering around among the junk of old kitchen waiting to go to the tip! She hid under an azalea from where we had to flush her out and catch her in a landing net (couldn’t risk trying to corral her in case she went out into the road) before putting her back in the chicken area (where she looked as if nothing at all had happened to her 🙄).

She’s never been in or seen the area in front of the house, all the other girls were quiet because they’d gone to bed, so how did she know that was the right place to be?! There’s no way anyone could’ve put here there because she won’t let us pick her up let alone someone she wouldn’t recognise, so she must’ve got herself home. Do they have a homing instinct?

[Cat tails]

Think they do have some sense of home, but I think maybe smell was key here?

Don’t you love having Dutch bantams?? 😂

[Alis girls]

Have no idea but lovely story. When we got our last lot I fancied a cleghorn I think it was but the guy said they were great escape artists. As we live near main roads decided too risky. 

[mullethunter]

3 hours ago, Cat tails said:

Don’t you love having Dutch bantams?? 😂

They’ve generally not been too much trouble since they moved into the Cube and stopped trying to sleep in trees - just one fake disappearance (she was on a hidden outdoors nest) and now one actual one!

[Luvachicken]

I so glad she turned up safe and well 😊

[The Dogmother]

Great that she turned back up. Not sure on the homing instinct bit... perhaps she was hiding in the front garden all along. Any of mine which have escaped have been far too stupid to get back again 

Leghorns are a nightmare! I have had the pure breed bantams before and they are flighty as heck. I have also had Blue Angels - blue egg laying araucana x leghorns; beautiful birds, but if there were ever 2 breeds bound to give you crazy, flighty birds.... these are they!!!! They do settle down a tad when they come into lay, but still do that irritating Araucana thing of zig-zagging across the garden so they are harder to catch.

[Grandmashazzie]

The lady we got our rescue girls from, said keep them in run for few days,then they will orientate themselves in their surroundings. They will note markers like the big trees, position of sun etc. Maybe that’s right and your little one was able to get back safely.

[mullethunter]

Quote

. perhaps she was hiding in the front garden all along.

I have to admit that’s my suspicion 

[FarmKing]

Chickens can travel long distances and still come back to their home.