Integrating a cockerel into a flock of mature hens

After Ichabod's vocalization aimed at the school bus the other morning, I noticed him hollering at it again yesterday afternoon as it passed to turn around but not when it returned to drop off my son. I'll have to pay closer attention to whether it's just the school bus or any large vehicles, like the delivery and dump trucks which are the only other large vehicles that pass by here. He did holler at the UPS guy a few days ago but only as he was walking towards the house, not at the truck.

I have also noticed he has a specific group of girls he looks after; the four pullets and one of the older dom hens who divides her time between his group and the rest of the older girls. This number is a good one for him for now. The hens are much more focused on human interactions and he pays no attention when I handle them or whether they stand closer to me than him. However, he prefers to stand between the pullets and me and though he's not showing me any signs of aggression, he is showing me that those girls are "his". After a few minutes of me being out with them, he relaxes and isn't so focused on keeping himself between them and me but we each have our own definitive sub-flock within the whole group and there seems to be a mutual respect of that. He also still enjoys getting his own attention from the children and me.

I was very impressed with the pup this morning. Ichabod was leading his group of ladies to the neighbors' yard (the neighbors who don't want them visiting) and I watched through the window as the pup made a wide circle around them and blocked them from venturing over the property line. When I called for her to come back to the cottage and she slowly walked past them towards me, Ichabod and his girls rushed past her when they saw me, some running, some flying. The pup stopped moving and sat where she was, just watching them go. She's now 6 months old and becoming more and more playful but her self-restraint is unreal. I have spent zero time working with her in training to herd (or to be a guardian to them) but that instinct is so strong in her, I need to.
 
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