Foraging Free
A cat marauded the chickens, and one chicken escaped from the chicken house. The chicken house is not ours, and we cannot make repairs to it, so there are places where a determined bird can escape, but they only wiggle out if they are frightened by a predator.
Kevin calls her Ginger. She’s just that chicken.
She got out. The next day we lured her back in, but she was out again when Kevin fed them in the morning.
There is no water out there. No free food either. She has to go after everything she wants.
A few days of luring her back in, and after that she won’t go. No point putting her back in, she just gets out. She stays pretty close though. Just one lone chicken.
Water is hard for her to get. Food isn’t plentiful, but she finds it. No doubt a hard life, there are cats, dogs, skunks, and even big cats now and again, all putting her at risk.
But she would rather have freedom than companionship, easy food, and plentiful water.
She’s just a chicken.
But freedom is just that precious.