It wasn't too bad. There was a bit of chasing, but nothing mean. The Littlees kept themselves in a little flock, and moved away whenever any of the Ladies approached.
I was also vauuming and washing floors. Mid afternoon, I carried the sheepskin rug out into the garden with the intention of shaking it. I didn't get that far.
As soon as I stepped into the garden, with the rug under my arm, pandemonium broke out. The Ladies screamed and ran for cover. The Littles exploded into a sort of chickeny fireworkfountain,. Unfortunately, they were standing in a corner, between the summerhouse and the fence. They exploded up the side of th esummerhouse, and up the fence.... and one of them landed next door.
I ran into thehouse to get a step-stool but, when I got back, I couldn't see her anywhere. DH climbed up further down the gardewn to look, and still couldn't see her.
We rounded up the hens to make sure that we had one missing; we did.
I called her, threw a few sunflower seeds into the garden, nothing. Not a peep.
Our lovely next door neighbour (LNDN) was away, so we had no way of getting in to the garden. I suggested removing a fence panel, but DH declined. While we considered options (including me climbingon the log store nd into next door, borrowing a child, waiting until the LNDN's daughter got home so we could get her to come over and let us in...... There was another complicating factor, which I can't talk about.
And then she appeared on the fence. She was debating which way to go. Into our garden, back into LNDN's garden, or move a few steps and fly off into the wilderness.
I ran round the gouses to the wilderness, just in case. By the time I got there, she'd disappeared. I I assumed that she'd probably decided to come down into our garden. I hadn't taken my phone, so DH couldn't phone me to tell me one way or the other. Just in case, I checked all round for signs of her before returning home,
She was shut up in the Big Girls run, and was as jumpy as a jumping bean. Any noise set her off. I tried to catch her to calm her, but it was hopeless. I left her to it for a while, and in the end I had to let the Big Girls in to their run, in an attempt to 'force' Blondie to let me 'save' her.
She sat on my lap in the big run, eating the occasional sunflower seed. I stroked her, talked to her, calmed her down. And eventually carried her next door to go in with her sisters.
I'm hoping she forgets that there is a whole new world next door.
