Question about a "lone ranger" free-ranging hen...any input appreciated!

[jondee]

I will try to keep this short and simple. I have 9 hens, one of which is a year-old Easter Egger. They've been raised together. The hens free-range over our fenced acre of land during the day, and are shut into their coop (inside a 12 X 12 fenced yard) during the night. I also have a small, fenced garden area that I can keep the chickens in if necessary, although I prefer that they take advantage of that acre of land.

The Easter Egger that I mentioned has always been kind of flighty, and until I clipped one of her wings, she would occasionally fly over the fence and disappear for a couple of days at a time. She was still laying eggs in the coop, though.

Clipping her wing kept her from flying over the fence, but then she took to disappearing into the brush at the back of our acre. She'd reappear every few days, eat like crazy and get a good drink, hang out with the other hens for half the day, and then disappear again. She quit laying eggs in the coop, but was apparently laying them out back somewhere, because our dog would find one and bring it up to the house to eat every now and then.

I finally got her back into the chicken yard a week ago. While deciding what to do with her, I started putting all the hens into my garden space (I have the garden beds fenced off so they don't get eaten), rather than out in the back acre. Everyone seems happy enough with this set-up, and the Easter Egger finally seems to be calming down a bit. She's not laid any eggs since she's been back. She checks out the nest boxes that the other hens use, but she's not laid a single egg. She's not molting.

So my question is, what to do with her? If I keep her confined in the garden long enough with the other hens, is she likely to finally settle in and not take off when I let them out back in the field again? How long would this take, a couple of weeks? A month? Might she never settle in, take off again as soon as she has opportunity, and remain living out back somewhere until a predator picks her off? I would really prefer to keep her; she's beautiful, interesting to watch, and (used to) lays lovely blue eggs.

Any insight into this kind of behavior, and what I can do about it? I thought chickens were strongly flock-oriented; all of the other hens get freaked out if they suddenly realize that their buddies have gone to the other side of the field without them. This one, though, seems perfectly content to live all by her little chicken self

.

Thanks in advance!

Joni in CA

 

[momtotnt]

Not too much experience but I did have a flighty hen and ultimately I had to keep her in the pen to keep her from wandering off. The problem was that when she wandered, the others started following her! She was such a bad influence and I too didn't want to take the chance of predators.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

It sounds like she wants to go broody and hatch out some chicks but is not finding a nesting spot that suits her. I think she wouldn't be happy at all being confined, but since she seems to like the garden, why not put and enclosed nesting box there in some hidden area and see if she if she likes that...she still may be hiding her eggs (those kind like to hatch chicks) I'd let her do her thing and live her chicken life the way she wants,
I'd let her keep her wings in case she needs to escape a predator.

 

[debir1966]

Unfortunately I do not have any advice, just some sympathy and a simular experience.

We have not had chickens for many years, and back then I really didn't pay that much attention. In April we bought 10 adult hens, 5 buff orpingtons (2 of them very friendly, the other 3 docile but not as friendly), 2 ameraucanas, both of which are very stand-offish, 1 production red, docile and semi-friendly, 1 supposed-to-be welsummer, standoffish, and 1 light brahma, also docile but not friendly.

We started free-ranging them consistently on the 27th of May. All the hens pretty much stick together in groups of 3-9... except the light brahma, Big Bertha.

She is the most explorative, going the farthest first and never runs out with the other hens, but goes in the opposite direction! She does her own thing, doesn't have a buddy, and is content to be far away from all the other chickens.

Most of the girls stay on one side of our house and down by the chicken coop and barn, but Bertha prefers the opposite side of the house, pecking in the grass and laying under some bushy plants for shade. She also sits in a shed and dust bathes in there, all by herself. She wanders farther up the lane than the other hens also.

I would like to have a broody hen... maybe I will do some exploring on the back side of the house tomorrow and see if she has been laying any eggs... unless they are well hidden and out of reach, however, our LGD (dog) will eat any eggs she finds (as I found out when I started free-ranging the hens and an egg disappeared from the nest, now we block off the door to the coop so the big dog can't get in - no more missing eggs!).