The hens had an outing. They dispersed to the old pumpkin patch, under the peach tree and across the lawn.
While they forage, I clean the barns and then garden. Once I finish my chores, I have to put the Girls back into their safe fenced pen. When I call, they all come running and gather around me.
Well, maybe not everyone. I count 13 hens. One is missing. It is, of course, Agatha. She’s in the overgrown raspberry patch, oblivious to where here flock-mates are. Agatha is not the most alert hen. (There she is in the exact center of this photo.)
I yell and she looks up. Oh! she says, but doesn’t exactly hurry.
Agatha hears me shaking the canister of scratch corn and starts to trot. But then she gets distracted. It takes awhile. The other hens get impatient.
Finally, there are 14 hens in barn, including that one rather spacey Speckled Sussex.
Well ok she’s a bit of a dreamer and maybe not so bright but she is very pretty and she always makes me smile.
Ah, sweet Agatha! You know, though, there always has to be at least one! :)
What a beautiful photo of Agatha. My 2 girls always get side tracked and distracted when I try to get them home (meal worms do help).
Our speckled sussex (Mabel, or Mabeline) is always “lost”, too. She wanders alone while the other six mostly stick together. If she didn’t call out frequently so I can find her (usually enjoying the neighbor’s hospitality!) I’m sure she would be lost forever. So funny how they each have a distinct personality. I have an easter egger that sneaks away with her pals. I see them sneaking across the driveway quickly so I won’t catch them. She leads the group into places they shouldn’t go…. They keep me very occupied and amused.
‘ Did you mean me. Well if I must, but I really was enjoying myself ‘
Its amazing how they can turn a deaf ear when an interesting tasty morsel is in sight…..:)
Agatha is such a cutie. It must be quite interesting trying to count a bunch of chickens vying for treats. I only have two right now so it is easy to notice when one is MIA.
The Speckled Sussex we had this year were definitely out of the loop when time to do what the rest were doing. Very calm birds, but not inclined to follow the flock’s lead. Drives my husband crazy when he’s trying to put them to bed. Then there’s the one who is the worst, who manages to get out every time we move the portable fencing. She says she’s helping….
I love Agatha. First, she has the perfect name for a hen. Don’t you think? And I love that she is in her own world and doesn’t hurry for the treats. I had two Speckled Sussex — my only hens to be allowed to hatch eggs when they went broody at the same time. They crammed themselves together into the same nest box to sit on the dozen fertile eggs I purchased for them. They sat on the eggs and then hatched them all together. Afterwards, anytime one would get off the nest to eat or poop, the other would ‘steal’ the chicks from the other hen’s vacant spot by nudging them under her own body with her beak. When they switched places, the first hen would ‘steal’ them all back. What a crackup. Definitely not the brightest hens in the flock but they were a team and were fabulous mothers.
She is so. pretty. I also have a straggler. My welsummer. Always getting distracted and lagging behind.