Milk our black/white chicken, known as a Barred Rock, is the lead chicken.
Yesterday we had to round the five chickens up into their coop so the big dogs could come outside. The coop is closed in with a door within a door at the top and there's a wired in/closed in section underneath that will eventually tie into a run.
I got 3 of the chickens in the top with the door closed, and Milk and Nora were in the bottom which is wired on one side so they can see out, and wood on two sides. I was blocking the fourth side with a spare board. All the squawking going on. My goodness. When the five can't see one another (and they can count), they get all hot and bothered, and since Milk is the leader, she's even worse. While the dogs were doing their thing, I sat by the coop to keep order. Well, what order there was that needed keeping. Mostly telling our shepherd, Opal, to get lost and to go sniff somewhere else.
Anyway, when the big dogs finally went back inside, I let Milk out first and was a bit slow (for her taste) in letting out the others. I had this clear vision of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music when she goes running across the screen with her arms out singing 'The Hills are Alive'. That's what this chicken looked like. While they've not perfected their cluck yet, it sounds more goose-like now. She ran out of the bottom of the coop area wings back and raced to the middle of the yard, honking the whole way. Julie Andrews to the T. She could not figure out where her girlfriends were. They really do get so upset if they can't account for everyone. Who knew?
