Can hens get stuck in small places?

[taw2559]

My favorite and most personable hen disappeared in June. We searched everywhere for days, figured she was taken by a predator because I free range. We saw her at 9 am, by 11 she was missing. She had been sick and stopped laying for over a month (her symptoms seemed to indicate egg yolk peritonitis), but had recently started laying again, so we looked at all her hiding spots, since she always hid eggs and sometimes we'd find a nest full of them in some concealed spot.

Well, we found her between bales in the hay mow yesterday. Often, the chickens will climb the stairs to lay up there. She was tucked between bales with several eggs. I feel anguished that she may have been "stuck" and suffered for days. I am hoping she was egg bound or ill instead - then I wouldn't feel so bad - but that morning she had looked fine. She never tried to incubate eggs before, so I don't know that she was broody. We had checked the hay mow countless times, calling her name, but she was always a quiet hen who didn't say much.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

[groundpecker]

If you found several eggs, then she has a way out of the hiding spot. You can be sure of this by looking at the nest. If you see a bunch of poo in the nest, she may have been stuck. If the nest has very little or no poo, then she can escape the nest.