Tell your story#25: Fowl Play (sensitivity)

Greetings beautiful steemians. Hope this meets you well.

One feature of the human metabolism include sensitiveness. It's keeps us safe and gives a sense of awareness. Intriguingly, animals also possess this kind of sensitivity even to a level higher than humans.

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Pixabay

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Over three weeks ago, my mother decided to purchase native hens for rearing and procreation. Fortunately, a neighbour living adjacent to us has several hens and was willing to sell some. So my mother paid her to sell one of her hens. My mother made her choice and the neighbour promised to send the hen to us in the evening when the hen returns to its coop. Since it will be easy to catch it that way.

When the neighbour's son brought the hen, I was impressed by it's size. A brown-feathered hen with a blend of black and grey feathers, up to a year old big. So the next morning, I went to the neighbour and asked that she sell me another hen. My mother had made 2 choices so I paid for the other one. That way, we get to have two female native hens.

In the evening, she had her son bring the hen to us. This time, a black-feathered hen with a blend of gold especially around its neck. I was excited to have a chicken of my own. We already had a chicken coop, so we kept the hens there securely locked so it doesn't go out or run away for about a week.

After a week, we removed them from the coop but used a long rope and tied one end to its leg and the other end to a pole. This gave it limited freedom to walk around but without running away. We'd do this every morning and in the evening, we'll put them in it's coop.

We kept on with this cycle for another week, and after that, my father said they would have probably been used to our environment. So, we decided to tie them, one to each lightweight stick. That way, they get to walk around more freely, and we can also be assured that they will not run away without us catching them, since the weight of the stick would slow them down.

After like three days of tying them individually, I came out one afternoon to see the brown hen tangled and tied to a tree bark, unable to move. I thought to untangle the rope so it can walk. The hen started cackling, and before I could grab it, it pulled its feet out of the knot and got freed. I tried not to panic about it getting lost, and I allowed it to enjoy it's freedom with the hope that it will find it way back home.

Fortunately, in the evening, it came back and went straight to its coup. That was quite relieving for me. I was scared of loosing my hen. Seeing that it returned, my mother removed the stick from the other black hen the next day. But before she could loosen the rope, it ran away. Oh the taste if freedom! A,nd she decided to allow it be. Unfortunately, at the end of that day, that black hen didn't come back.

It was already dark when we realized this, so we couldn't go search for it that evening until the next day. We searched around our house, yet we were still unable to find it, neither did it come back that evening, as we low-key expected. We didn't know where to search again so we accepted that it's lost.

As if on cue, and to add salt to injury, the next day, the brown hen, the first to be loosened, also went missing and didn't come back in the evening. That was how we lost two hens in three days. This time, it got to my mother, and she went to complain to the neighbour who sold her the chicken, and probably find out if the the chicken has gone back to her.

And to my surprise, the two lost hens were at their previous compound, pecking the soil freely. How were they able to find their way across the street to the previous owner after being away for about 3 weeks? That was the question one my mind. Instincts, sensitivity.

While reflecting on the possibility of their return, I remembered this song by Master KG:

No matter where you go
Remember the road that will lead you home...
The hen remembered the road that leads it home. Only that it failed to realize that it was sold out and belongs to another.

It's been four days now, and the hen is yet to come back to us, and we don't even know how to get it to be used to our environment when it's brought back. But at least it's relieving to know that it wasn't lost or stolen but is safe, and we will get it back .

The lesson

This experience has many realized that even animals can be so sensitive, and their instincts so strong. Even a tiny brain hen still recalls its previous environment since it's been there all it's life.

While human tend to explore new environment consciously, they need time to adjust and would never forget the feel of home until they are full adjusted.

Thank you
Have a wonderful day!

I'd like to invite @khayjhay @wuddi @priya2205 to the contest.