NOT AN ORPINGTON
Sooo.....I finally got two long time grail hens--a beautiful Cream Crested Legbar and an stunning ebony Ameraucana--the real deal--not an EE!
I even got two BLUE eggs within 24 hours of putting them in the run!
I was one HAPPY HAPPY human!
The Ameraucauna was especially so sweet and docile--eating out of my hand immediately--you could tell she came from a great animal loving original home.
Last evening, as it was getting dark, I went outside to help the newbies into the henhouse. All my old girls had already tucked in; I found the Legbar roosting on top of the Chicken playpen , but the Ameraucana...where the heck was she? I combed the henhouse and got my husband and son to help me look for a black hen in the fading light.
Not in the run.
Not on the neighbor's property to the left.
Not on the roof of the other neighbors' converted barn to garage, which is behind the privacy fence that is part of my chicken run fence.
Not IN that garage either.
Or under the cars.
Not under the lilacs or peonies.
Not under the hosta.
Not tangled in the lily leaves.
Not in the front yard.
Not heading to State Street (I asked a couple who was walking past our house in that direction. They giggled.)
I was starting to get queasy from fright.
She wasn't exactly replaceable, and SUCH a sweetie pie.
"I found her!" My husband yelled.
She was perched in the cherry tree which overhangs the run--10 feet in the air. We must have walked under her a dozen times without a cluck or a poop on our heads to help us find her.
NONE of my portly layers would even ever DREAM of going in a tree.
Two more blue eggs today....
...and some black feathers from where I trimmed her wings!