Sydney just turned 4 back in November! We got our girls back in September and at first we didn't let them free range in the yard because we didn't know what Sid would do. After a while I think Sid realized that the girls were part of the family and were there to stay! Every time we'd let her out she'd go running out to the coop to "check" on the girls. It was funny to watch because that's the first thing she would do, even before going to the bathroom. When we would sit around their run (part of their run is just garden fence about 3 feet tall) Sid would also sit with us. She would see our girls and try so hard to get them to play with her! The one time she got to close and got pecked pretty good below the eye. That kinda made her weary about them so she kept her distance. Then one day when when the girls were out in the open part of their run they decided that they were going to bad and 3 of them flew over the fence! For some reason no one but Sid was out with them... When we finally realized we saw that Sid was trying to round them up back to the run. (She was probably thinking "hey you guys shouldn't be out here") She would just walk around them in a circle type thing keeping them together. The girls didn't care they were content with eating grass lol. Now when we free range our girls we always let Sid out with them! It probably keeps hawks away! The girls let Sid know when she gets to close! It's funny to watch Sid when she's out with the girls because she can't figure out what these crazy chickens are eating. Sid also responds to the "chick chick chick" sound we make to call the girls over to us for some treats! hahaha That's our story about Sid in a nutshell...
