Drama at the Mini Urban Farm and One Hen Flew the Coop

The one with the red feathers around its neck is the one missing.

With this terrible heat, I have been letting the juvenile hens, the ones that we hatched this spring,  out in the morning when I feed all the animals. My first year of owning chickens, I was so protective that I never let them free range.  Then when a couple of them died anyway, I decided that it would be best if they died while enjoying their freedom. So I let them out this morning.  But as I don't often do, I left and went to the feed store for chicken feed and hay.  When I returned, I saw a neighbor's golden retriever in my backyard and some black feathers around her.  Then I saw one of my hens beside her, but mostly hidden in the tall grass.  I yelled at the dog, "Did you kill my chicken, you bad dog?" Just then the dog's owner pulled up in front of my house and heard me yell at her dog.  She was very upset to learn what her really sweet dog had done.  She offered to buy me another one.  She doesn't just let the dog run loose, but very rarely the dog manages to get out of the fence.  I told her I was not sure if the chicken was dead.  But when I decided that I wanted all these animals, I realized that with everything that is alive, death is also a factor.  So I told her I wasn't angry with her or her dog.  A chicken is great sport for a retriever.  Well, the little hen was alive with some missing feathers.  So I sprayed her wounds and put her in the hen house.  Out of the bushes ran another of the little hens.  Now the question was, where is hen number 3?  I looked in all the places the 3 like to hide during the day.  And they are always together, so I thought surely it was in the bushes next to the bank's fence from where the other one had come. I did not find her, so I went through the gate and walked the parking lot just in case she flew over the fence. But I did refrain from calling out, "Here chick, chick."  She would not have come anyway and I didn't want the bank customers to think I was a crazy lady.


I closed the door to the coop, because I had to leave again, but I opened it when I got home; hoping that the third hen would return. All the chickens go to roost in the coops when it gets dark.  I really believe she is alive, because there weren't that many feathers. The injured hen was up and drinking water, so I called my neighbor and told her that I think the hen will live, but one is wandering around. The 2 that are in the coop are full sisters and solid black; father, Big Foot and mother, Omelet.  The missing one is the largest and a half sister, because her mother is Sunny II, my green egg layer.  I have been anxiously waiting to see if she was going to lay olive colored eggs.  Well, often people post lost dog signs; I may have to post a lost chicken sign. We'll see how that goes.