Dwight and Angela Gone, Meredith Missing

Having two roosters in the yard was not peaceful. It was bad. It was worse than living with the Bickersons. It was the freaking Jerry Springer show every single day. Dwight was the dominant rooster but Angela developed her/his masculinity too. Dwight is the rooster with the bigger comb. Angela is the silver and black rooster. They would crow. If Angela crowed near Dwight, Dwight would buffet him with his wing. So eventually Angela learned to crow in another part of the yard. One rooster would crow in the front yard and the other would crow in the back yard. Back and forth they would crow. Angela's crow was huskier and smokier than Dwight's shrill crow. If one rooster mounted a hen, the other rooster would mount her immediately. This was hard on the hens. One day I found a big pile of feathers in the yard. I thought a chicken had been killed. No chickens were missing but Phyllis had a big bald patch and a severe limp that lasted almost a week. I suspected the conflict level and emotional distress caused the hens to quit laying for over a week. So I decided to get rid of both roosters. A sibling came and got them today. She reached in the coop and pulled them out bare handed - what a farm girl! I'm so proud. The roosters will make a good meal. Dwight and Angela have had a good life with lots of good food, friends, sunshine, exercise, crowing, and sex. They've eaten enough of my parsley and basil to taste good from the inside out. They were pretty living lawn ornaments but the conflict got to be too much. So today I let the hens out without the roosters. They seemed more anxious. Usually they stay together as a group but today they went separate ways. Offspring #1 came over and mowed the lawn. The uproar of the mower scattered them as usual. Pamela and Kelly came back first. I went walking through the woods and scared up Phyllis who joined the other three. I wasn't too worried. I used the "Mary Had A Little Lamb" plan - wait for them to come home wagging their tails behind them. At sunset, I still had only 3 chickens. Meredith, the orangest chicken, is still missing. I went looking for her with a flash light. I walked all around the yard scanning the ground and the lower branches of the trees. I couldn't find her. I hope she didn't try and find the roosters. Is she walking to Zimmerman? Did she join the neighboring flock? I didn't see her on the road. Was she eaten by another creature? I hope she comes back tomorrow. In hindsight, it might have been a good idea for them to stay in the run for a day or two to reconstitute their social order before letting them run free.