I started to relay this story on the new Homesteading channel on Slack but during this time, as had been happening all day, the internet kept cutting off so I was not able to finish answering questions. This added to my frustrations about continuing internet connection problems that had been happening almost since the very day I started on Steemit.

I won't tell the whole story of Lee, the lonely chicken, but highlights are that she was one of three chickens that we raised from their first day last spring. During the winter her two sisters were senselessly killed by two stray hunting dogs and left for us to bury. Their names were Brightly and Victoria, named by my grandson when they were but 3 weeks old. He thought a bit and named the light colored one Brightly. She was my favorite because when I lowered the side of the incubator to feed and water them Brightly would jump up onto the edge of the box and look around the room curiously. Her sisters were named Lee and Victoria.

Lee was now left alone with us and became my companion, sitting by the front door, following me around the yard and squatting down whenever I came outside so I could massage her neck and rub her down to her tail until she fluttered and spread her feathers. She never used the chicken house except as a place to peck at layer feed.

Lonely Lee had been a real clever and pesty chicken in the newly planted spring garden and she hadn't laid any eggs since Easter...that we could find anyway. I put her in the coop with the door closed except to the tiny run that connects to the door.

She started laying eggs! Or I should say we started finding her eggs.

Maybe something had been eating her eggs all this time? But at the least the newly planted seeds in the garden were safe.

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When spring finally came this year we picked up three new day old chicks

 

When they were almost six weeks old it was warm out and their feathers were coming in so I moved them out to the coop.

Lee was allowed to free range again and spend the night on her "roosting bar" on a high ledge that held the furnace pipe securely to the back of the house.

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Three days later a fox broke into the chicken house through a loose floorboard in one of the nesting boxes and devoured all but the heads and feet of all three chicks.

We cleaned out the coop, fixed the floorboard and put Lee back inside to protect her and our garden. But...she was able to fly over the fence and free range again. A different stray dog came up a steep wooded path onto our very private 29 acres to the cleared space where we live and have a garden and orchards. Lee managed to run away and hide somewhere while I yelled and waved my arms to scare the dog off. She reappeared later that day damaged and subdued, but alive.

Now she is permanently living in the coop, safe from predators and allowed a small run that is enclosed by fencing. Her good wing has been clipped (thanks to @goatgarden for his good advice and video). She was safe in my mind but I continued to check on her often, bringing treats and having conversations. She seemed to understand what I was saying so it was quite companionable. I don't speak chicken but am hoping that @mother2chicks will write an article about it. She does seem to be able to communicate with all kinds of animals.

Internal predators!

Yesterday I heard a strange noise from Lee so I went over to the coop and looked inside. There was a big multicolored snake, a kind I did not recognize, just near the little door out to the run. Lee was pacing back and forth, wary of this creature who was blocking her way outside. I considered just reaching in to quickly take it out but thought better of that. I yelled to my husband for HELP and he came over with a shovel and reached in and tried to pick the snake up but it just snaked off. He managed to nudge it out the door. The snake stayed on the ramp for a few seconds and then slithered under it to the very spot where Lee has made an indentation to lay her daily egg.

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Anyway, back to the Slack conversation to answer their questions:

The snake had been just sitting near the door to the run but there were no eggs in there to eat. That is just where the snake ended up going after it was chased out of the coop. Then it must have gone way underground because there is wire netting that goes a foot deep all around that area. It must have come up by this same route and climbed the ramp to get inside. I put a golf ball in the coop because I read that the snake will eat it and it is indigestible. I do know that snakes are good for gardens but this one I did not recognize and I am so wary now of any harm befalling my last chicken - until next year.

I only have a point and shoot camera so I didn't have it with me to get a picture of the situation and the snake. I wanted to first take care of getting the snake out of the coop. I have been checking all day and have not seen it again. Poor Lee. She is having such a hard life

Back to the end of the Slack conversation:

The bot is saying I am offline. I will wait until the internet comes back on to send this. It is just too frustrating. A tech is going to come out again on Monday because this problem has been going on for weeks now. Then I think I will call it a night. :zzz: Ha I just used the smiley face thing. That's kind of fun!

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Can you guess that the chick in my name is about chickens and not my age?

Quickly sending this off before another internet down...