Bil-B. appeared in our yard one winter day and was determined to stay here. Assuming that she was part of the flock next door, the objective was to get her back over the fence to her proper home. Catching an intelligent, quick footed, street wise chick is no small feat. My heart was pained each evening when she had eluded us again, and found her way to the tippy-top of a tree to roost. She was dutifully following "her instinct" to be at highest ground for safety against nighttime predators, we were informed by many.
So, I dutifully followed my instinct and ran to the feed store to get her munchies for her sleep-overs.
Her food?... It's called SCRATCH ! Dunno why, but I just adore that! scratch, chicken-scratch... so apropos when you watch their feeding movements.
She gets other fresh items and food too.... but, I swear I wasn't trying to keep her here! I just didn't want her to starve while hanging out in our yard and sleeping in trees.
Eventually we were able to spook her into flying and up over the fence into her "real home" she went. We knocked next door and told them that their lost hen was back, and they invited us in to go see the rest of the hens and their coop. What a surprise to find that our neighbors had only one breed of chicken and Biloxi was definitely the black sheep of the clutch! She was not theirs.
Then where had Bil-B. come from? Ah well, she was with other chicks and she would be safe from harm having a coop to roost in at night. The first couple of nights she stayed in their tree also. Smart one she is, she didn't want to push her luck with the "BIG" girls who didn't know her yet. No
"hen-pecking" for her! It seemed a compromise had been worked out when she was able to lay eggs in the coop and rest there too.
Coop residency lasted about one week. Biloxi found her way back into our yard! Not sure how, as flying is not her forte. No one had coaxed {ahemmm - scared} her over the fence as we had. OH SO SMART!! She was bound to get back to the luscious grounds of our garden... {if I do say so myself}
Next door has safety, we have an open world waiting to explore! Free range of the ultimate kind....
 |
| she just kills me when she runs & waddles down the path! |
Attempts were made in the middle of a rain storm {so blustery that I swore she'd fall out of her tree-house in the middle of the night} to make her a temporary coop-cage....
A construction worker, I'm not! Biloxi would not be enticed. Planks to the front door, worms, straw bedding... nothing worked. Each morning, the walk through the yard to find her was painful. Had a raccoon come in the night?
Instinctively she found safe, quiet areas to nest. Some quite funny - a lying down barrel filled with twigs and leaves. A wooden planter with only fallen leaves from the fig.
She graces us each day with her own type of chicken-magic... and that tiny being can even nourish us too!
The intention at this point was still not to view her as OURS. Yet, why had she found our haven? And where did she belong?
There's still more to this chick's story....
No comments:
Post a Comment