chicken herding

My laughter keeps me from being able to successfully snatch the chicken that Rawley and I are attempting to capture. A few times I've almost gotten her but I'm giggling so much that I can't seem to get the hand-eye coordination quite right and I keep missing her. As we run through the orchard on our somewhat ridiculous mission, I can't help but think how funny we must look, flailing behind a freaked out chicken that keeps darting back and forth between the peach trees. Finally my partner in crime arrives, Nellie to the rescue!

With her intense crouching stance, Nellie slinks around the back stealthily and flushes the chicken my direction. I see my chance and gain composure, just in time to lunge at the blur of feathers that goes darting by. In a flapping of wings and loud squawks, I manage to hold on to one leg and I swing her around so she's tucked safely under my arm. We walk over to the fence and I toss the hen towards the rest of the flock where she settles and begins to peck at the ground.

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Over the past few weeks I've been discovering Nellie's amazing herding abilities. Being a pure-bred Border Collie, herding is definitely in her blood. But I didn't realize she was actually staying true to her ancestors until I started noticing all of her quirky behavior. Nellie is constantly on the move, she has to have something to do at all times of the day. Normally her job is to follow Judith around and she does so with utmost intensity, taking her job very seriously. When Judith isn't here however, Nellie is suddenly left with nothing to do. In these moments of emptiness she resorts to stalking piglets, lambs, cats, chickens, or any other furry beings that she feels merit attention.

Witnessing this ability going to waste, I decided to begin the process of harnessing her skills. I started with lots of treats and I would take her out on runs to make her like me more. Then, as our trust grew, I started taking her with me to my work. It worked like magic, the second she saw the first loose chicken, her instincts kicked in: she crouched down low and locked eyes on the hen, watching its every move. Walking slowly towards it, she would force it in one direction or the other. As a team we've actually been able to capture quite a few chickens and I'm working on getting her to recognize commands so that she can be even more useful in my chicken trapping quests.