Runaway Chicken

So I'm pretty pleased that we're still getting about one egg/day. It's impossible to tell which chicken is laying them (although we suspect Patricia).  We can tell you one thing for sure - it's not Barley.

How would I know you might ask?

Well, because Barley seems to have found another home. Some days. Most nights.

It's unclear what she is doing but let me tell you how this was all discovered.

Last week both Carl and I were out of town for a night and our neighbors put the chickens away one night. When they put them in their coup, they noticed there were only 4 and Barley was missing. After some searching and coming back the next morning, she was nowhere to be found.

Carl got home the next day and looked for her more (in the rain) and another night passed without her coming home.

I feared the worst and felt very emotional about it.

Then the next day, Carl texted me a picture that she had returned home! I was surprised and relieved and curious - what had she done for 2 nights?

Well, shortly after her return (literally just a few hours), she was gone, again. And was gone all weekend.

And, you guessed it, she showed back up today (she is the all black one below). Just in time to eat it seems. 

So now I'm just annoyed.  I have no idea what she is doing.  Carl is now suspicious that she's actually created a nest for herself under the shed because he saw her go under there one day.  I tried to look and see if there were any eggs (which would of course be annoying if there is a pile of eggs under there) and couldn't see anything.

Long story short.  Barley is a trouble maker but I still want her to come home.