Welcome to our little farm!
I am a stay at home mom of 3 awesome kids, a beagle-mutt, a border collie mutt,a cat, a turtle, a rat, and (of course) 10 hens.
5 of our girls are Red Stars, 1 no-name banty, 1 easter egger, 1 barred rock, 2 white leghorns.
But that being said, there's still a difference for "Backyard Chickeners" between free range and cage free. I think to most people, free range is a coop for sleeping/laying, with no run and free access to the property. Cage free = no teeny tiny cages, but somewhat confined to a coop and a run...
I had a girl do *almost* the same thing a few weeks ago. (Minus the squat walking) She was just "zoned out" hanging out in the corner of the coop by herself, didn't eat for a few days, just stood there. I (*gulp*) put on a pair of gloves, lubed 'em up, felt for an egg. Nothing. A few days...
I'm VERY interested in this topic. I gained a BEAUTIFUL barred rock hen recently. A lady at church bought out an Amish farmer's whole flock because he was starting fresh. I told her how pretty I though barred rocks are and wouldn't ya know it, she brought me on the next day! Molly is lovely...
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Bahahahahaha!! Soup. Oh, geeze, that's the LAST thing I need on my plate right now...learning to butcher my birds. AND explain to my kids what's (who's) for dinner. I'll let her go until spring, but she is definately my most intense bird. She was given to my kids at an event, and...
No.... I have a largeish coop and a nice sized run. When I do let them in my (large, fenced in) garden, they usually don't get out. But I haven't even let them out lately, due to my neighbors a-hole dogs.