This is a lovely action pic of Seiji Brown, as she scratches in the grass--after she has smoothly escaped from the run! Seiji is our last "Big Girl" hen who can still fly. After multiple attempts at improved fencing, limb pruning, and erecting barriers to keep the hens from escaping (usually into our neighbor's garden to eat the most delectable of all veggies, his starts), Seiji is the only hen who can still escape from the run.
The other hens could sometimes manage escape by jumping from limb to limb on the firs and pines, and then with a graceful "Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!", they would flap their wings frantically while they would propel themselves from the tree trops. Quite frankly, it was very conspicuous but I don't think stealth is part of the chicken temperament. Every time we heard the squawking we knew a chicken was in our neighbor's garden, would go out and promptly remove the naughty hen.
Since hens are truly "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" type creatures, once a hen was in our neighbor's garden, they would usually forget about the mother lode of tender veggie starts to nibble upon. They would immediately realize they had been separated from the flock and begin frantically looking for a way to be reunited with their sisters.
Seiji is the hold out though. Seiji can actually fly from the ground up into the trees or over the fence, and sometimes even on to the roof of the coop. And she does so on a daily basis--she lets herself out of the run, goes to Fuzzy's sleeping box (pictured much earlier in the blog), lays her lovely blue-green egg, scratches around a bit, and then puts herself back in to the run. She doesn't seem to mind being away from the flock, and never wastes time being frantic about how to get back in--she knows she has the ability to get in or out of the run anytime she wants.
Honestly, if she continues to be this responsible about it (and doesn't, instead, let herself into our neighbor's garden to peck his tomatoes to shreds) I don't mind a bit!
