My loft has moved five times over the years since I was a boy, with a few gaps of time in between when I was unable to keep my birds. This story concerns a “Little Red Hen” which was bred and raised and settled in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The same year that this little Sion hen was born, I married and moved to British Columbia, Canada. The town, Fort St. John, was some 750 miles west of my previous home and loft. No, I didn’t take Little Sion with me and she didn’t fly back 750 miles without training. She did something far more remarkable than that!

About a year after moving to British Columbia, I established a loft, and soon went back to Saskatchewan to retrieve some of my birds. They had been living “open Hole” on my parents farm. They had received a minimum of care but were in reasonably good shape. Most of them were quite wild after very little human contact for a year. Little Sion was still reasonably tame and I took her and a few of the other “better” birds with me to Fort St. John.

It was Spring, and the birds took to nesting easily. Soon after they were down on eggs, I decided to break the birds to their new home. Since the loft was equipped with a large, high aviary this was fairly simple to do. Little Sion and her friends were soon exercising well around their new home. I decided next to train the birds.

Fort St. John is about 55 miles North of the beginning of the ALASKA HI-WAY. Soon the birds were returning in reasonable times from as much as 100 miles further up the hi-way. Often they would beat me home as the Alaska Hi-way certainly isn’t straight. Little Sion performed well and was one of several that survived the hawks. By the way.. the hawks up there quite often camouflage themselves as mosquitoes.. simply because they are the same size.

The next fall I had to move again, this time to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Dawson Creek is “Mile Zero” on the Alaska Hi-way, so this time the move was only 50 miles or so. Little Sion was back down on eggs by April of the following spring. Again I decided to settle her to the new loft, along with her loft mates.

I built a small, awkward and temporary aviary on a small platform some thirty feet from the loft. Little Sion, being one of my favorites, was the first to be placed in the aviary. Somehow she slipped out of my hand! The instant she was free she was off! I groaned! She had spent the winter in the loft with only an occasional open (screened) window. She had no chance of Knowing where she was! One circle and she was gone!

Four hours later she was back Still lost but circling the area, knowing the loft was nearby although she had never seen it from the outside. I watched the sky for the next two hours and saw her go by two or three more times. She was never close enough to call, and finally she disappeared again.

At supper time I phoned a pigeon friend in Fort St. John. He agreed to drive out to my previous acreage and see if Little Sion was there. An hour later he called back.

“There’s a red hen sitting on the garage at your old place” he said. “I’ll go out after dark and pick her up, the garage window is open and she’ll probably go in there”.

Near dusk that evening as I was closing the loft for the night, I looked up and there was Little Sion almost directly over head! I whistled and saw her wing beat alter, then she continued on.. very tired by now. I walked out in the open on the street about a block from the house and watched. Finally, a bird landed on a warehouse roof several blocks west.

Feed can in hand, I walked two blocks closer. It was a red bird! I whistled and saw her turn her head. I whistled again and she took to the air…and landed right at my feet!

Well, she wouldn’t let me catch her although she knew it was me. I continued talking to her and slowly walked back home. I think anybody watching would have wondered about this guy walking down the center of the street with a pigeon following him. I turned up my front drive, Little Sion still following. I was hoping the neighbors cat would stay away just this once. The loft door was just ahead. I opened it and stood aside, Little Sion without hesitation flew in and went straight to her youngsters.

I learned later that she had been back to Fort St. John twice, not once. Our former neighbors had spotted her there during the day. After being confined to the loft for six months her first day out had consisted of 200 miles plus another four or five hours of searching. Of course she had rested several times but it was still a pretty full day of flying. I think this is another quality example of remarkable intelligence in the birds we all love. Hats off to Little Sion, the little red hen.