I was out on my porch having my coffee and I noticed a chicken roaming around the coop. My instinct was "Oh no! How did that one get out! Did I forget to latch the ramp?!" and quickly turned to "Wait, that barred girl is way bigger than my Fayoumi... where'd she come from?"
I went out with some whole oats in a can and tried to get her to come up to me. She was a little skittish, but obviously not terribly afraid of people, so she must have just escaped someone's yard in the last day or so. Any closer than about 8 feet and she's start mildly panicking. After an hour of of letting her free range and eat the treats, I went back out, got on my knees, waited til she came near and got her with a leg hook. She was really good about it, very submissive and didn't struggle when I picked her up. She's a great hen, I'd say around a year old. She's in a spare 8x6 run at the moment with some fermented feed (which she loves), some oats for scratch, a clean nest box, clean water and plenty of things to explore. She seems content, if lonely.
Boy were my flock antsy and noisy watching her out there and being stuck in the coop LOL
The neighbors across the way (very busy state highway) have birds but I haven't seen any in their yard since last year. I'll go knock, but part of me hopes it isn't theirs. I don't know of anyone else near us within a couple of miles that keeps birds or livestock at all. The amusing thing is that our entire property is surrounded by chicken wire so she either came up the steep concrete stairs from the highway itself or up our driveway. Must have been lured by the sound of my obnoxious roos!
I went out with some whole oats in a can and tried to get her to come up to me. She was a little skittish, but obviously not terribly afraid of people, so she must have just escaped someone's yard in the last day or so. Any closer than about 8 feet and she's start mildly panicking. After an hour of of letting her free range and eat the treats, I went back out, got on my knees, waited til she came near and got her with a leg hook. She was really good about it, very submissive and didn't struggle when I picked her up. She's a great hen, I'd say around a year old. She's in a spare 8x6 run at the moment with some fermented feed (which she loves), some oats for scratch, a clean nest box, clean water and plenty of things to explore. She seems content, if lonely.
Boy were my flock antsy and noisy watching her out there and being stuck in the coop LOL
The neighbors across the way (very busy state highway) have birds but I haven't seen any in their yard since last year. I'll go knock, but part of me hopes it isn't theirs. I don't know of anyone else near us within a couple of miles that keeps birds or livestock at all. The amusing thing is that our entire property is surrounded by chicken wire so she either came up the steep concrete stairs from the highway itself or up our driveway. Must have been lured by the sound of my obnoxious roos!
