Escapees

 I went into the chicken yard to collect eggs and dump the kitchen waste into the compost bin. I wasn't paying attention and left the gate open. You can see that the hens all siezed the opportunity to run out into the yard and patio.

 Normally, I don't allow them out because they scratch and make messes and eat everything. I made a few attempts to round them up and put them back, but they were hard to catch and were having such a ball eating weeds and grass that I let them hang out.

They have killed every plant in sight in their. Believe it or not it was a fully greenyardfull of grass when we put them in there. They turned it into a barren moonscape with their scratching and earing every last living thing.

This is Baby, our broody hen. Broodies just want to sit on eggs all day, it is a natural thing chickens do in the wild. This has mostly been bred out of t because they stop producing when they are broody. Baby didn't get that memo. She is broody often, but she is terrible at it. Note in the photo that all the wggs are in the other box. There are no eggs under her, I checked. Broody hens can be mean as they are protective of the eggs and will peck you if you try to gather them from under their bellies.