Letting chicks roam free in yard, How to get them back in coop?

I have a large open run for my chicks who are around 10 weeks old now. I want to cut a door opening in the side of the fence that faces my pasture so when I cut the grass they can go eat grass hoppers, my problem is that some of them cant figure out how to get back in once their out. I either have to catch them or corral them to the door. what is the best way to do this? my old chickens I just shake a bucket of cracked corn and they come running. should I teach them that or is there a better method?

I would probably put some feed or treat back inside the opening after they have gone out. They will be motivated to figure out how to get back in on their own.

Shake There food and they'll learn that that means it's time to go away. When you call out "chook chooks" my chickens come running!! It sounds funny, but it works!! Just keep doing the same thing and eventually they'll know that when that happens they will run to you or to there pen. :cd

I have a suggestion that works very well for me. My 7 little ones only know the new coop as home, so when I want them inside for whatever reason, I simply imitate a hawk call, and you've never SEEN 7 little faster streaks of lightning zip inside that coop! Hope this helps!

CA4K(le)

Mine play dumb when it is daylight, but they all know where to go when it gets dark. Also could the door way be a little bigger? As long as there is food and water in there, they should go in on their own when the time is right.

I have 6 hens maybe 5. One may turn out to be a rooster. If it is I am going to name it Caitlyn!!!!!! They are 8 weeks old and I just put them outside in a pen underneath their coop. I am building a run but it is not finished yet and I wanted to let them out of the coop. At night I have to crawl underneath the coop to get them and put them back in the coop. If I put a board up to the coop will they go back in the coop or are they still too young? What age was yours when they started learning home is the coop?

loujeany said:

I have 6 hens maybe 5. One may turn out to be a rooster. If it is I am going to name it Caitlyn!!!!!! They are 8 weeks old and I just put them outside in a pen underneath their coop. I am building a run but it is not finished yet and I wanted to let them out of the coop. At night I have to crawl underneath the coop to get them and put them back in the coop. If I put a board up to the coop will they go back in the coop or are they still too young? What age was yours when they started learning home is the coop?

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It's considered good manners to start a thread of your own when you have a question that isn't in reply to the original poster. Easy to do, just click on "start new thread" at top of page. I'll be replying to the OP and maybe some of your questions will be answered, too.

Being able to control your baby chicks early on is a very useful thing and teaching them other things hinges on being able to get them to come to you when you want.

Using food accomplishes wonders, and all you have to do is use the same verbal and visual cues each time you offer treats. In no time at all, your chicks will respond when you call them using these cues.

I've developed a visual cue, though, that I can use with or without food. It comes in handy when I need them to come to me and I don't have time to grab some treats to bribe them. When they're still just a couple weeks old, I hold a treat in my fist and point to in by "pecking" at my hand with my index finger of the other hand. Then I slowly open my fist to expose the treat. They quickly associate seeing my closed fist with there being food in it, and they will come running. After a while it doesn't matter there's no food in my fist. I just only need to point to it and they think there is.

If you want to get your chicks to come out from under the coop, or come into the pen, you only need to call them and point to your closed fist.

To get them to go into the coop at night, wait until you hear them making "bedtime" noises. It sounds like crickets chirping, very soft. They're ready to go inside. Get into the coop and call to them rather than trying to catch them and stuff them inside. You might need food the first time to interest them. Wave the treat at them from inside the coop entrance. Use a small flash light if it's darker inside the coop than outside. Chicks are fearful of going into a strange place where they can't see what's in there. A nightlight might help, too, at least until they go in on their own.

It's so much easier to teach chicks to go into the coop by calling them in than by grabbing them up and shoving them through the pop hole, and they learn in a matter of just a few days. Mine were going in on their own by age five weeks.

I usually brood my hen hatched chicks in a 2X5 by 2 foot foot high wire bottomed brooder that is 12 inches above or off the ground. This brooder is divided into two 2X2 1/2 foot sections, each section is 2 feet tall or 3 feet overall counting the 12 inch tall legs. One side is for the hen and chicks and the other side is only for the chicks and it is separated from the hen side by a small piece of 2X4 inch welded wire . There is a small door on the chick side that can be opened once the peeps are about 10 days old. On pretty days I open this door and the biddies soon learn to come and go as they please. They feed on spilled feed laying on the ground under the chick side and they also come and go as they desire into the brooder to eat, drink, and get hovered. They soon learn to make their way up the little ramp to get back to their mother. The first day or so I do check on the peeps after bed time and close the door or ramp to protect them from varmints. At this time I also look underneath where the hen is sleeping and you can be sure that any young chick that was unable to find its way back into the brooder will be sleeping or roosting under its mother, only it will be sleeping 12 inches below her, it's called instinct.

In your situation I would only feed them just inside the door to the run so that when I opened the door your chicks could learn to navigate the door in both directions. If your young birds are a little hungry close to bed time feeding them just a few feet inside the door will excite them and overcome any wariness that they may have about sticking their heads back into the run. The decision to return must be your chicks' decision. Trust me, what you want or desire means nothing to a chicken.

Well then I apologize for my bad manners. I am new to the BYC and my question was pretty much the same as the OP so I posted it. Obviously I am low in the pecking order and have a lot to learn. Sorry to the OP for messing up your thread.