You are probably asking…..

…..did the Stupid Hen come back to her chicks whom (who?) she abandoned in the coop…..?

…..no…..

…..no…..she did not…..

…..but…..ten of the eleven puff balls somehow managed to scramble up the inside ramp in the coop and tumble down the outside ramp in order to run after and try to find their unconcerned mother…..

She ultimately (with no credit to herself) collected nine of her babies…..

…..one stayed in the coop……and one was very raucously peeping under the flatbed trailer (telling every predator in a five mile radius that it was abandoned and in distress and available for eating)…..

…..and Otto was quietly watching & aware of the entirety of this bungled-breach…..

He likes things that are crunchy and good with ketchup…..

…….I was able to herd the loudly chirping chicklet from under the trailer…..across the yard…..under the gate…..and into the pasture where it’s mother was totally oblivious and scratching in the grass…..

I was hoping Otto was not put on high alert…..now that he was made noisily aware of a solo chick (who was available as a snack)…..

…..we already know the kitty was plotting a stealth/poultry/pounce…..

(as it is…..Otto regularly trots through the inattentive/spacey adults and takes an indifferent swipe at them…..just to watch them cackle & scatter…..)

…..I thought (and hoped) that the one remaining chick…..who was left in the safety of the coop…..had the best chance of all of them to survive…..

…..once chicks are hatched…..for the most part…..they are self-sufficient…..

…..with the exception of predators…..a baby chicken can take care of itself…..

However………………………later that day…..the coop-chick had totally disappeared…..(?)…..(?)…..(?)…..(?)…..(?)…..(?…..(?)

…..and…..the irresponsible/reluctant mother still had her ten charges…..

…..my older daughter and I waited until after dark…..again…..

…..we went out to the barn and found the hen and her babies…..again…..

…..we collected them all…..again…..

…..and this time we deposited them in the turkey coop (with its closed/latched door/with electric wires above and below)…..

…..Mama Hen was NOT given the option of going out in the morning…..

…..she is now being forced to do time behind bars…..with her remaining children….

…………………and this is why I buy mail-order chicks…..

…..(but wait…..there’s more)—(to be continued)…..