Dateline - May 6th, 2017
I have been caught up with the business of life and its stresses and careless about updating the blog. To my dear readers, I humbly apologize. There is more story to tell yet about the doings of the past, but this just happened today so I thought I would share.
For those that don't know what an 'eggsong' is, the sound is hard to describe. The phenomenon is not hard to describe, when a hen lays an egg she 'sings'. The sound is almost, but not quite entirely, unlike singing. What it is, is an uncomfortable sounding cacophony of squawking and carrying on that sounds half way between pride and murder. When one of the girls sings, Coq Au is so disturbed by the sound that he starts squawking and carrying on with equal enthusiasm until he and hen calm down. This happens, as you can imagine, several times a day.
Also ... my lawn mower is broken beyond repair. Other matters more pressing in life have prevented me to do much about it, so I've let it go and the grass has reached nearly knee high.
So ... on with today's events. About noon I let the flock out to forage the high grass and enjoy the cool mid spring day. They wandered about while I busied myself indoors with this or that. I wasn't keeping a close eye, but they were quiet and that is usually a good sign.
A couple of hours into it and the clouds darkened so I figured it was a good time to get collect them into the run. Coq Au, Myrtle, Hermione, Hildegard, Lily, Petunia, Ermatrude, Mildred all went in like good birds. Matilda was not there, but that is not unusual. Lately she has been on the bottom of the pecking order and goes off to be away from the flock picking on her (this is a story for another day), but I always know where she goes and she gently comes to me for special treats and to be escorted by hand back to the run.
Hortense was also missing. ALSO not unusual because she likes to be by herself but usually can be found in a private dust bathing spot where she is pampering herself. This time, she was nowhere to be found.
I checked all of her usually 'me time' spots. Nothing. Waded through the tall grass of my yard with confidence that she was SOMEWHERE nearby unseen. I checked with my neighbor who cautioned me that the chickens have been wandering more into her yard (a gentle chide, they were not there now), and she went on to caution me to be careful of ticks while wading in my own tall grass (another gentle chide at the state of my lawn). I assured her that chickens are a great tool for keeping a yard low on ticks and asked her to alert me if Hortense turned up. With growing concern, I checked under the canoe, in the shed, near the compost, under all the bushes. Checked INSIDE the coop more than once. Made a half a dozen circles around the house ... nothing. Went inside, tried to think, back out for another circuit, nothing. If a predator had come along, I would've heard a great disturbance. If she wandered into the street (unusual), I would've seen a flattened bird. By nature, they don't wander too far, but if she was inclined, she'd be cautiously loping up the yards and I'd spot her. Nothing.
I went inside for another round of panicking.
Back outside for another circuit. As I am turning the corner from the front of the house and hear a particularly loud concert of chatter from the back ... eggsong and rooster in a duet that was an assault on the hears. As I came along that side, I quickly realized the 'hen' part was NOT coming from the coop but was off a bit to the right. Hortense came out from her hiding spot near the compost (a spot I had checked several times already) proudly announcing her accomplishment. Coq Au was in rare voice as his girl was NOT where she was supposed to be and had escaped his notice!
Flock reunited, egg collected, and I am very relieved.
Sometimes, my hens can be douche bags too.
