Priscilla is a prodigal chicken.
About three weeks ago L opened the coop door one evening to let the chickens put themselves up for the night. Herding chickens is easier than herding cats, but sometimes it still requires some effort. So when it was dark he closed and locked the door. The next morning he only let out five chickens, instead of the expected six.
We figured she would show up at some point during the day, but she didn’t. Day two passed and still we looked for signs of her remains or at least a stray feather or two showing that there had been some sort of struggle; nuttin. We looked high and low and much like the father in the story of the prodigal son, we waited somewhat impatiently for signs of her return or some evidence of her. At least the father knew that the son was leaving. Chickens are less communicative that way.
Three nights passed and then while sitting at my desk working I noticed that there seemed to be more chickens on the porch. Sure enough there were six again. Incredible! She was back. Let the rejoicing begin.
It was short lived. She managed to sneak away again before it was time to be put up in the coop for the night again.
This was typical behavior for her over the next week. She’d show up when she wanted and disappear when she wanted. We had no idea about her whereabouts. Then June 21st happened.
Early in the morning of June 21st a storm came through. A real storm, lightening, thunder and nearly two inches of very welcome, very needed rain for our parched Texas earth. When I got back from dropping of J in the morning, sometime just about 6am, I let the five chickens out of the coop and suddenly noticed that we again had six chickens. One was easy to spot
she was completely drenched down to her pin feathers.
Since then we haven’t had too many issues in finding her. She puts herself up most of the time when the others go in to the coop too. Perhaps a lesson learned? Much like the prodigal son, I think she realized that her ‘father’s’ servants had a pretty good life and it was ok to be in with the other gals.
You know what?
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