[Fleecewife]

We had a phone call today - a little hen had been found on the road about half a mile down the hill from ours. She didn't belong to anyone down there, and no-one could think of anyone else with hens in the neighbourhood, so we agreed to take her.  She is a very well socialised but elderly hen, a bit scrawny and definitely very hungry.  We dusted her, gave her a check-over and popped her in the henhouse with the rest of the flock.  She was last seen palled up on the perch with the hen who looks most like her 


So I'm wondering where she came from.  We live quite a way from any village or town and she was found going down the hill away from our house.  We have an 'eggs for sale' sign at the gate and hens visible free ranging. Our thoughts are drifting towards the possibility that someone has brought the last hen of their garden trio out into the countryside and dumped her where they could see other hens. We wondered if she had run after the car like a puppy when she was dumped and was found half a mile from us.  If so, what a terribly cruel thing to do.  A hen has zero road sense and I'm amazed she got as far as she did without being squashed.  If she had headed inland she would have been taken by a fox by nightfall.  Luckily we have taken her in and she's safe, hopefully (as long as she stays put). We've called her Road Runner (she has very long legs as well as having run for all that distance)


Do you think our possible scenario is the right one?  Have you heard of people dumping hens in the countryside as they do urban foxes, to fend for themselves in an alien environment?  If not, where on Earth has she come from?

[HappyHippy]

Nothing would surprise me.....sadly I am frequently appalled by the behaviour of some humans 
I'm so glad she has ended up with you though FW 

[macgro7]

I found a white rabbit once. Really tame... it was in the city though...

Caught some stray chickens in the livestock market carpark - including a peacock.

[SallyintNorth]

I would think it much more likely she hitched an accidental lift in a delivery van - or even was taken by a bird of prey and dropped.

Glad she has found you, anyway.  Lucky Road Runner.

[chrismahon]

We only ever had cockerels dumped on us. The first little chap was thrown down our driveway from a passing car. Then four were dumped on nearby wasteland overnight. So my thought is as SallyintNorth, some kind of freak accident.

[Womble]

Do you think our possible scenario is the right one?  Have you heard of people dumping hens in the countryside as they do urban foxes, to fend for themselves in an alien environment?

Yes, people definitely dump hens. We've had a single older hen dropped over our gate before, who I assume was the last one surviving in a garden flock or similar.


We also have half a dozen ducks here who were dumped at a freshly-dug pond at our community woodland. I reckon they were somebody's cute and fluffy lockdown project, but then 'set free' once they got big and messy. The poor things were starving, as there's nothing to eat at a freshly-dug wildlife pond!


What is worse, just last week, our friends found their beloved cockerel badly wounded because somebody had dumped another one over the gate, and they'd spent all afternoon fighting.

So that's three instances I can name. It seems reasonable to deduce that your wee hen is a fourth.

[Richmond]

Yes people dump chickens all the time, especially cockerels. We've found several in the woods just up the road from us, one time we caught 3 that were starving after a week of heavy snow. I was actually phoned up once by someone who said Will you take my cockerels otherwise we'll just put them in the wood so they can have a "few days of freedom" before the foxes get them! A few days of terror and confusion more like.    Needless to say I accepted them to stop them having such a horrible end.
I do take unwanted cockerels in from time to time, on the understanding that they will go in the freezer. But at least they are humanely despatched and not wasted. I'm waiting for the 2021 wave to hit me ....... Didn't have so many last year but in 2019 I took in at least 30 birds.
By the way, please DON'T all rush over to Norfolk and give me your cockerels .... 

[Womble]

Spoke too soon. That's our neighbour just asked if we've lost a cockerel. "Nope. But I think you just gained a casserole".

People are idiots.

[macgro7]

Yes people dump chickens all the time, especially cockerels. We've found several in the woods just up the road from us, one time we caught 3 that were starving after a week of heavy snow. I was actually phoned up once by someone who said Will you take my cockerels otherwise we'll just put them in the wood so they can have a "few days of freedom" before the foxes get them! A few days of terror and confusion more like.    Needless to say I accepted them to stop them having such a horrible end.
I do take unwanted cockerels in from time to time, on the understanding that they will go in the freezer. But at least they are humanely despatched and not wasted. I'm waiting for the 2021 wave to hit me ....... Didn't have so many last year but in 2019 I took in at least 30 birds.
By the way, please DON'T all rush over to Norfolk and give me your cockerels .... 

I suspect the 2021 wave will be bigger...

Hatching eggs were selling like crazy during the first lockdown, in comparison now they hardly sell at all.

A lot of people went to hatch or buy their own chickens. Most livestock markets, where they would normally end up after some time, are closed at the moment, so there must be a lot of people trying to dump their animals 

Just remembered, once someone told me there's a hen in the allotment next door to us - went to count mine and there were all home! That day I earned a nice bantam 

[Fleecewife]

Thanks everyone.  So it is possible she was dumped by someone who cared enough to take a trip to the country but not enough to take responsibilty for Road Runner's welfare.
Seeing how feisty and independent she is today, it's also possible she did walk here from a greater distance than I would have believed.  It would have to have been well over a mile, along busy roads, but as she is so obviously seriously uinderfed, I won't be searching too hard for her previous home.  If she takes herself back then that's fine, but she's welcome to stay here with her new friends.

[macgro7]

What type of hen is she actually?
Is it possible she escaped from some commercial farm perhaps?

[Fleecewife]

What type of hen is she actually?
Is it possible she escaped from some commercial farm perhaps?

The nearest commercial chicken farm for meat is miles away and the nearest commercial layers unit is even further, about 20 miles. There are a few people who keep hens on a medium scale a bit closer, but she looks like a jungle fowl hybrid, white, tall with really long, strong legs, not typical as a layer or a meat bird, closer to her dinosaur roots than most.  No poultry transporters pass our place as we're on a back road, and no-one would be transporting a hen in that state of scrawnitude. I think she escaped in search of food but I just don't know where from.  If she came cross-country, she would have at least a full days travel, with predators to evade.  I'm looking on her as a bird of passage, who might stay the summer with us, or may carry on her journey tomorrow 

[sabrina]

Over the years we have had a number of dumped cats, seen rabbits dumped near us that  are no way wild and i have heard of chickens too but so far not on our farm road. Some people are so heartless that nothing surprises me anymore.

[in the hills]

Awww, I'm glad that you've given her a home, FW.


We are over 3 miles from the nearest village and much further from the nearest town and yet our neighbour found 3 cockerels in her garden a few years ago. A couple of them had string tied around their legs. They could only have been dumped here. So, I'm guessing that you're probably correct and someone has tired of looking after her. I wonder if there could be others out there...........

[Fleecewife]

I wonder if there could be others out there...........

Those were my thoughts too.  We have looked as much as we could, given the grass and hedges are getting denser, but if so they could be anywhere.  She's the only one we've seen.
We don't know where she is tonight, no sign of her at bed time so hopefully she's cooried down somewhere safe