We had no release party.
But the sun was shining, the snow was melting, and temperatures were climbing into the 30's. Even our fair-weather Wyandottes chickens ventured outside the hen house.
Now in approximately week six of her confinement, the Broken Legged Hen was tired of her 8 by 8-foot stall, and I was tired of feeding her separately from the others.
"Be free," I said, opening her stall door.
Then I left the barn and took the Border collies on their morning dog walk. When I returned, the stall was empty.
From a distance, the Broken Legged Hen looks no different than the other Buckeye hens. Up close, her now-healed broken leg is thicker--and she walks with a limp.
She settled back into her routine of hanging out with the two Haflinger horses. Either she'd forgotten that a horse hoof broke her leg, or she didn't care.
At night, rather than joining the other hens in the hen house, she settled into the corner of the horse stall.
When the horses were fed, she was there to snatch up loose bits of grain.
I've given up arguing with her.
The horse stall is where she wants to be.
And I will let it be.
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