A bonded hen

Chick Pea is a lone survivor. July saw a pen of 12 happy birds of various backgrounds, September left just one. A visiting Johnny-Come-Lately of athletic heritage dined a couple of times a week at the expense of my girls. A Olympian of electric fence jumping, who even displayed his gold medal when the dogs were watching, eventually moved to a new restaurant, but left me with only Chick Pea.

She is a Bonded Bird, with deep interest in daily conversations and would follow me everywhere, from first arrival. I may have been seeing to their needs, which was regular late afternoon tea of mixed corn, but she would stay for the conversation and catch up. She came through the British Hen Welfare Trust, a national charity that re-homes commercial laying hens. How she came to have a bond with people I shall never know.

She explored life as a sheep for Zip, but after I found her wedged behind the downstairs toilet that career came to an end. Zip’s bonding to her is entirely food related, as in Pea has food that Zip would like for herself, not Merrick’s view of Pea being a self-contained meal.

For quality time we shall explore a landscape of training adventures.

We begin with Cup on A Stick which is used to lure behaviours. Firstly teaching her to focus on the cup, then follow. Same skills for the teacher that require me to keep the process clean. This gives me a wide future of possibilities alongside exploring her learning skills.