The Littlest and Featheriest Hobo

No sign of the Chook today, and the cats and I all missed her bossy presence. Usually on my Wednesdays off, because I'm mostly resting up at home, she spends much time sneaking into the house and sticking her sticky beak into every nook and cranny as she loudly voices her opinions on all matters. Last week she made it all the way into my writing room while I was working, and spent a goodly amount of time investigating my amazing floor-supported, filing system. Perhaps it was just me feeling a tad guilty about the mess (I will tidy it up soon, I promise) but her clucks definitely had an air of disapproval about them.

However, though I'm uneasy at her absence, and I worry about her being out there all alone in the world amongst predators of all types rather than safely roosting in her own tree by the hot water shed,  I'm not too worried yet. Not only is the Chook as tough as nails, she's also a free spirit, a vagabond who comes and goes as she pleases. She regularly wanders off on these walkabouts. The first time she vanished, I was quite sad, certain that she'd been gobbled up by a feral fox or the like. She also nicked off while I was in hospital and then convalescing at my sister's, though whether this was because she missed me or the cats, it's hard to say. Anyway, gone, gone, gone, was the verdict of my house minder, but the moment I opened the back door on my return and called out  a tentative hallo, Chookie,  there was a screech of welcome from somewhere in the distance (how sensitive is chicken hearing? I should find out.) and a fluttering of feathers, and there she was again, joyfully running around amongst the cats. She would have hugged them if she'd had arms, I'm sure of it. There have been a few other times when she's been gone for over a week as well, and I've been about to post a RIP in her memory only to have her turn up at the kitchen door loudly demanding food.

But I wonder, what does a chicken do when she goes walkabout? Head off down the highway like a hobo with a stick and bundle over her wings? Go visit relatives of the hopefully free range type? Hang out with friends in a local coop? Whatever she gets up to (maybe she's a spy of some sort, off on regular missions. That fits too.) this particular feathered little nuisance is free to do as she pleases, as long as she safely returns to us at some point.