After a mysterious disappearance yesterday, the gray hen reappeared this morning and took up her post on the back porch where she spends most of the day. She doesn’t move away, either for us or for the dogs. She has persevered longer than I thought, she sleeps somewhere on the grounds,  and she has escaped predators so far. She seems disoriented and off-kilter to me, but we have decided to let nature take its course. I think it is true that the gray hen is not ready to go.