Earlier this week I was enjoying my after-lunch rest time – we call it “rest and reading”. It’s a time for each of us to retire to our respective beds: each alone – with a book, a stack of books or no books at all: each enjoying personal quiet rest. Those who need it, nap. Those who don’t, rest and recharge for the second half of the day; usually all of us read.

Earlier this week, as I was enjoying this space of quiet rest after lunch, I became aware of a series of rustling and snapping noises outside my bedroom window. It came from bushes underneath my window and it sounded different than the normal outside noises. It sounded like an animal – maybe a dog or cat; but we don’t own a dog or cat. It sounded like an animal crawling around in the bushes; I continued listening. The noises came and went and eventually subsided. I was lying down; I was resting; I wasn’t overly curious about the sound, and I didn’t get up. I dismissed the noise as an unusual noise, but not too alarming.

A short time later I was passing through the kitchen and glanced out the kitchen door; there was dirt strewn all over the cement of the driveway as if something had been digging in the dirt and kicking it up. Now my curiosity was aroused and I stepped outside the back door.

Once outside, I could see another section of the driveway covered with dirt cast up from another area of shrubbery. Then I heard a small, gentle sound, a familiar sound: the soft avian clucking of our four hens. All four of our hens had somehow escaped their completely wired-in chicken run; now they were looking at me with inquisitive but uncomprehending eyes.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! Our chickens are a lot of fun and well loved, but they are not overly intelligent…at all. These same chickens find it difficult to exit the chicken run by means of a four-foot-wide gate. This is what happens during “planned excursions” through the gate of the run: I open the gate to let the chickens out, three hens will dash out the gate, and the remaining “fourth” hen will run into the chicken-wire fence and press herself against it in a vain attempt to get out. She attempts this exit just a foot-and-a-half north of the opened gate.

Now here they were looking at me – all four of our chickens – all on the outside and not even in the vicinity of the chicken run. I reasoned that there must be a gaping hole in the fence in order for all four to escape…I ran back to check.

Everything was secure, no gaping holes, gate shut and locked, chicken wire intact, no apparent escape routes. Hmmmm. My husband came out to help me inspect the area. It took us a few minutes, but we were able to find a place above the coop where the bird netting had been pulled away from its proper position. It was not an obvious exit, and it still surprises me that all four of our chickens were able to maneuver themselves through it. But having discovered their way of escape, we repaired the netting, re-deposited our chickens into their safe run, and concluded the afternoon’s episode of “Jailbreak!”