Does anyone else herd their chickens?

[Swivelhip]

Mine come in the evening to the coop. However, when I feed scratch, I always ring a cowbell that I bought on eBay. If I need to leave in the middle of the day, I just grab a little scratch and head for the coop. Ring that bell and they will sometimes take flight to get to the coop.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

We let our flock of 10 out daily at around 4:00. We used to get them back in the coop by clapping and shooing at them.

Now they have learned that whenever we run towards the coop with the scratch bucket, it means scratch time! Now when we run anywhere (even without the bucket) they ALL run and follow us. Pretty helpful if we want to get them somewhere; we can get them in the coop in about 30 seconds

 

[RnRRidgerunner]

I let my chickens and ducks out 3 - 4x per week to free range. They are usually let out late morning until just before dusk. Their ranging territory is about 2 - 3 acres around my house, pond, barn, and part of the pasture area. When it's time to go back in their chicken yard, they aren't always ready to call it a day... I used to walk around clapping my hands as the "signal" that it's time to go back to the coop area. About 2 years ago, I started herding them with my 4 wheeler instead... Now when it's dusk and they hear the 4 wheeler start up, they automatically start heading for the chicken yard... I inevitability get that one maverick on occasion who decides to go rogue and I need to go chase them down to remind them who's boss.

Curious to know who else herds their flock and how you do it?

When the chicks are still young or if I get new pullets I give them about three heaping tablespoons of just boiled white rice (NO salt), and call them repeating "chick , chick , chick, treats for the girls" . The trick is to train them to come when called and they see two plain white paper plates. There is always one or two that are reluctant to come in, but I don't usually have go chase them in. I look like a pied piper with the chickens following me back to the run. I place the plates on the ground inside the run and then just close the gate. It takes some time to train them at first, but the path is through their stomachs. HA HA BTW they have bottomless stomachs/crops. LOL Now if they are out of the run and they see me, they come running to see if I have something for them. Good Luck. p.s.- I am on 18 acres and they often go into the woods. No they do not always stick together. I am down to 8 hens, but usually have a dozen or more.

 

[TJAnonymous]

My girls just put themselves in their coop. If they could, they would close the door. I used to call them and wave my arms. I finally got busy and realized that once the sun was low, they would go in my themselves. Only have to rush them if in a hurry.

Mine will do this too but sometimes I can't or don't want to wait for them to naturally put themselves away....thus why I called it herding.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Mine come in the evening to the coop. However, when I feed scratch, I always ring a cowbell that I bought on eBay. If I need to leave in the middle of the day, I just grab a little scratch and head for the coop. Ring that bell and they will sometimes take flight to get to the coop.

We use a cowbell occasionally to call our horses up from the pasture to eat. They equate that sound as the dinner bell although I only usually have to ring it in the late spring or early summer when the grass is fresh, lush, and new.

My chickens now equate the sound of the 4 wheeler in the afternoon or early evening with "time to go back to the chicken yard." In most cases, I don't even have to actually herd them. They just hear the engine and see me back out of the shop and they are heading for the entrance... It's actually quite interesting from a Pavlovian training perspective because I can ride the 4 wheeler around all day long and they innately know I'm not herding them. But when it's late afternoon or just before dusk, they are smart enough to know the sound of that 4 wheeler is a flag that it's time to go in... Of course, this works 99% of the time. There's sometimes that ONE maverick who takes off in the opposite direction just to be a boob. That's when I use the 4 wheeler to herd them back the other direction, just like a cowboy with a calf...

 

[Lavender Wraps]

I let my chickens and ducks out 3 - 4x per week to free range. They are usually let out late morning until just before dusk. Their ranging territory is about 2 - 3 acres around my house, pond, barn, and part of the pasture area. When it's time to go back in their chicken yard, they aren't always ready to call it a day... I used to walk around clapping my hands as the "signal" that it's time to go back to the coop area. About 2 years ago, I started herding them with my 4 wheeler instead... Now when it's dusk and they hear the 4 wheeler start up, they automatically start heading for the chicken yard... I inevitability get that one maverick on occasion who decides to go rogue and I need to go chase them down to remind them who's boss.

Curious to know who else herds their flock and how you do it?

My chickens actually WAIT for me to tuck them back into their house for the night. If it gets dark before I make the rounds to them they usually have already headed in. I use treats in their coup for a nightly roundup. Works like a charm. I too have a straggler that waits until the last minute to go into her coup. If she's persists on staying out I have a little broom that guides her in. I never touch my hens with the broom, just showing it to them scares them, lol! Usually the rattle of the treat container is all it takes to get them in for the night.

 

[silki girl]

I just have to step outside for them all to come runnning to me! but how I get them in the coop is by using a medium long bamboo stick ( since we have bamboo trees) and heard them in the coop, say goodnight and let them out in the morning.

 

[Lavender Wraps]

I've run out of options of having a rooster for my hens. These past few years the roosters have turned mean and attacked me and my husband. Some we have even raised from chicks and have given them lots of attention. Anywhere from a large rooster to bantam's. Do we not have enough hens to satisfy them or what? We keep around 8-10 hens at a time. Any suggestions would be welcome. The last rooster was from a neighbor with a large flock with many roosters. Almost right away I saw him walking the fence line following my husband. I knew what this meant. He's attacked my husband in the chicken yard and in the hen house. My husband can handle himself but was concerned about collecting the eggs with the nest close to the floor. I had one rooster attack that just missed my eye, left a large scratch just below it. That's scary. Stew pot time!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I haven't read all the replies (1K!) so I apologize if my approach has been covered several times over already.

Mostly I just let the increasing dusk do the job for me. But sometimes there's an occasion I need to herd them in early, like an approaching storm or unexpected need to leave them untended at lock-up time. In that case, I call them into the run with a special sing-song "Chiiiiick chick chick! Chiiiick chick chick!" that they recognize and will all come running and flapping from wherever they've wandered off to, all over the pasture. They associate this call with treats. Once in the run and the gate closed, it gets tricky, and works best with a helper.

I have a long fiberglass pole that has several splits on one end, and makes a rattling sound when I shake it. I'll tap that rattly stick on the ground as I go around the coop, calling "go to bed! go to bed!" and most of them comply willingly, as they've come to understand the meaning of that stick. I herd the youngsters and reluctant hens around the front of the coop and towards the ramp and pop-door, while my helper stands at the back of the coop with his own rattly stick to keep birds from bypassing the ramp and playing musical chickens. Takes a fair bit of time and several rounds of the coop, but it works.

In extreme cases or emergency lockup, I'll set up some sheets of cardboard or plywood, or any barricade I can grab quickly, and make a "funnel" to the pop-door.

 

[kmart60]

I let my chickens and ducks out 3 - 4x per week to free range. They are usually let out late morning until just before dusk. Their ranging territory is about 2 - 3 acres around my house, pond, barn, and part of the pasture area. When it's time to go back in their chicken yard, they aren't always ready to call it a day... I used to walk around clapping my hands as the "signal" that it's time to go back to the coop area. About 2 years ago, I started herding them with my 4 wheeler instead... Now when it's dusk and they hear the 4 wheeler start up, they automatically start heading for the chicken yard... I inevitability get that one maverick on occasion who decides to go rogue and I need to go chase them down to remind them who's boss.

Curious to know who else herds their flock and how you do it?

Ours have a day run of about a quarter acre, but when we let them into our one acre house yard - only when we are outside to supervise, as neighbourhood dogs sometimes come to visit - they take a slow stroll around the perimeter, stopping to scratch and dig in a few favourite spots, then after about 2 hours, they put themselves back in their day run. If we needed to put them in earlier, just stand in the run and call "here, chook chook chook".
The funniest thing was when we started to integrate a new batch of chicks, that had been in a separate yard beside the main run. We opened the gate into the house yard, but they showed no interest in venturing out. So we herded them toward the open gate. They piled up right at the boundary line, where the closed gate usually was, but wouldn't go past this invisible line.