Charlie is never left out in the flock for more than a few days at a time. We (I) always bring her in to make sure that she gets enough food and water (she grew up eating dog food and she always runs to the Pippin’s dish when she’s in the house.) Whenever she sees me, she barks (yeah, it does sound like a bark) and runs over to me expecting me to pick her up. When I release her to the yard, she always heads to the kitchen back door, she knows where to go.
Yesterday I brought her in the house and sure enough, she made a bee-line to the kibbles. She scratched and pecked and managed to spread the dry food all over the floor. When Pippin came over to see what was going on, Charlie started to attack him, pecking at his black button eyes and nose. Pippin yelped in distress as Charlie made advance after advance.
Once Trevor had picked up Pippin and gotten him to a safe place, Charlie stood in front of the back door leading to the pen where the rest of the flock was outside exercising. I opened the door and without my even saying a word, Charlie hopped down the steps and joined her sisters in the yard. A few moments later when I looked out she was busy having a dirt bath and throwing the dust all over her back.
I guess that try as you may, you can never really take the farm out of the bird.
