WILD WANDERLUST- has anyone EVER found their wandering HEN?

[MareeZoCool]

It's been 3 weeks, she's been here off & on a few minutes irregularly during daylight hours. Both my roo & the neighbor's roo have kept a watch & are calling for her. When she does show up, both roos claim her as their mate, neither bothering to fight, just busy with their rooster duties to that poor hen. She has displayed that defensive broody hen pose; puffed up & wings spread wide. Then she simply dissapears for days on end.

By my figures, she should have a few peeps hatched by now.

HAS ANYONE HONESTLY HAD A HEN RETURN WITH A CLUTCH?? After she left from your coop? Do hens really return from the wild? I'm ready to find a hen to replace this bad girl, and cook her - - IF she does show up all fat & sassy! I want a good girl to help with our daily eggs.

 

[MareeZoCool]

I spent an hour searching the scrub under and behind my pine trees. No sight of that hen. No sounds of peeps! This just bugs me! I want to get a laying hen. BUT. if this problem Purl shows up with any biddies, my husband will want to keep her & those "free" biddies! The neighbor's roo seemed to be trying to distract me, once I got near the end of my property line. He started flapping his wings & gutgling loudly. I figured I must have gotten close, so I quit the search. my cat & 2 dogs followed me too. nuttin' like a well planned search!

My hubby doesn't know it yet, but I WILL replace that runaway Purl.

 

[Keara]

If she is showing up once a day, usually about the same time, and acting broody..... I bet she has a nest where you can't find it. They are really good at that. I had one pop out Wednesday that I was sure I had lost weeks ago. She had 13 chicks with her, so careful what you wish for.

 

[SeaHen]

This has happened to me more than once because we let our chickens free range all day. The hen doesn't show up at dusk to be locked in for the night, I go on a fruitless search over the next several days, and eventually we come to the conclusion that a predator must have taken her in broad daylight. Then, out of the blue one morning a month later she shows up in the yard with a clutch of little babies surrounding her, happily digging in the dirt for worms and bugs. If your's has laid two weeks' worth of eggs you'll have to add 3 weeks' incubation time on to that, so it could be a while longer before she comes home. She's just doing what comes naturally!