And then there were two...
20 March 2025
Delta, my sweet black Ameraucana escaped from the chicken coop. The other two hens, bigger and testier, have bullied their smaller sister for the past two months, pecking out her feathers so badly she was ready to be slid into the oven. I isolated her in a corner of the run, and in a month, her feathers had returned. Mid-morning, I heard loud cackling, and I ran out to find one of her tormentors in her space (the crazy hen had DUG under the fence), feathers everywhere. I opened the fenced in area to let out Alpha, and both chickens ran out, Delta into the coop. She huddled in a corner, and I opened one of the windows and managed to get her to return to the run. I walked around to the run, Delta flew back into the hen house—and leapt from the open window into the yard.
My chickens are not free rangers. But Delta strode right out toward the field. I ran after her but she was not interested in returning to me, to her sisters, to captivity.
There’s more to this story, which I will relate soon, but Delta enjoyed her afternoon of pecking grubs and bugs and what-have-you. She was miserable penned up in her small space, and miserable being pecked by the other two hens. No matter where she ends up, she will not survive. Breaks my chicken-loving heart. Peace…