Does anyone else herd their chickens?

[NevadaEmma]

Yup, when they see me or my husband they know there is usually a treat involved and if not they hang around looking hopeful!

At dusk Tank the Rooster finishes the job. But he hangs around for the last few morsels of scratch, runs around to make sure no one is missing and then watches to make sure I close the windows and doors securely.

He is a good rooster!

Mine come running when they see me, lol!

 

[featherhead007]

I say, “time to go to bed” when my beloved Roo was alive and he would head towards the coop. If he didn’t want to go in yet, he would pretend to find food and would tidbit to me. I knew he was playing, so I would just remind him “ the raccoons will get you” and stand by his ramp, to which he hurridly came up to receive his hugs and night-night kisses from me, his Chief ”Hen”. I miss my Pearlie Roo so much. Lost him to a rogue dog who lured him off the fence to fight. Sadly my sweet Roo lost that fight protecting his backyard (totally fenced). And to make matters worse, the owner (the dog jumped out of the cab of the truck) didn’t even have the decency to let us know what had happened. Pearl was on the fence waiting for me to come out to play .

So sorry . I have an amazing rooster now that I would not know how to be happy without him.

 

[klb25]

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 senior German Shepherd has been herding my flock for a couple months now. He used to be scared of poultry (got chased by a turkey once) but he's loving his new job!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

So sorry . I have an amazing rooster now that I would not know how to be happy without him.

Oh thats such a sad story. My 7 hens brighten every single one of my days. I couldn't imagine. Again, bulldoggirl, thinking of you. Time heals and more chickens could help heal.

 

[featherhead007]

Oh thats such a sad story. My 7 hens brighten every single one of my days. I couldn't imagine. Again, bulldoggirl, thinking of you. Time heals and more chickens could help heal.

My seven hens love their rooster too! It’s just that I need my roo sometimes to watch TV with me. He’s kind, sweet, smart, funny, likes to be by my side on the couch. Especially today because I’m sick with flu

 

[TJAnonymous]

You just reminded me of the 1 time all of my pigeons were out flying & hanging out in my backyard on a very warm summer day. This is before I had chickens, in my 20s, when I lived in a neighborhood, only had a quarter acre then. I had just gotten a shower after some sweaty garden weeding. I got out of the shower, & still wearing my towel, & glanced out the back slider, to see all of my pigeons frantically evading a dive bombing hawk! Yeah, I ran out there, waving a broom & yelling "Get outta here!" chasing the hawk off. Then I scooped up some sweet, wide-eyed, young pigeons, trembling & cowering under a shrub & carried them to the loft. I called to the adult pigeons zooming around in flight, to "Come on in, come on in" & they flew right in to safety. Only after the hawk was gone & all pigeons were safe inside their loft, did it occur to me, I was only wearing a towel. The towel I had wrapped around my wet hair like a turban had fallen off long ago, somewhere in the yard...I'm lucky I didn't lose the body towel . The neighbors never did say a word about it, not to my face anyway. Lol

I've run outside in all kinds of disarray to scare of hawks....but never in a towel.

 

[Sylvester017]

@My Very First 6 Chickens -- chickens learn to adapt to their owners. They are quite smart at learning to play piano keyboards, card game tricks, hidden cup games, etc. They also adapt to understanding simple verbal commands without any gestures from their owners: commands like "Shoo" "Up" "Out" "Back" "Outside" "Backup" etc, and they learn to come when called by their individual name. I've seen chickens trained to do field trials like dogs do!

These two little Silkie girls always came running immediately when we called them by name

"VIOLET" the old Gold Partridge (11 yrs)

"SUZU" the Blue/Silver Partridge (3 yrs) with old "VIOLET"

 

[azygous]

"Herding" is not necessary. It's a waste of time and energy and gas. Chickens will easily come to a sound cue after being trained to associate the sound with a favorite treat. It takes less than one day to train chickens to come on cue. I train mine from one week old to come to the sound of. training clicker.

Your chickens are conditioned to come at the sound of your ATV. It's not exactly positive conditioning because I suspect the noise triggers fear. If chickens are trained to respond to a positive cue, it is probably better for them than fear.

I reinforce compliance each time with a reward, and when I need them in now, I can get the whole flock into the run in less than a minute. It comes in handy sometimes not to have to "herd" them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...training-my-chickens-this-past-month.1230489/

 

[Smokerbill]

"Herding" is not necessary. It's a waste of time and energy and gas. Chickens will easily come to a sound cue after being trained to associate the sound with a favorite treat. It takes less than one day to train chickens to come on cue. I train mine from one week old to come to the sound of. training clicker.

Your chickens are conditioned to come at the sound of your ATV. It's not exactly positive conditioning because I suspect the noise triggers fear. If chickens are trained to respond to a positive cue, it is probably better for them than fear.

I reinforce compliance each time with a reward, and when I need them in now, I can get the whole flock into the run in less than a minute. It comes in handy sometimes not to have to "herd" them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...training-my-chickens-this-past-month.1230489/

I bought a whistle a long time ago to use like that, but never got around to using it.

 

[tlcmurphy]

"Herding" is not necessary. It's a waste of time and energy and gas. Chickens will easily come to a sound cue after being trained to associate the sound with a favorite treat. It takes less than one day to train chickens to come on cue. I train mine from one week old to come to the sound of. training clicker.

Your chickens are conditioned to come at the sound of your ATV. It's not exactly positive conditioning because I suspect the noise triggers fear. If chickens are trained to respond to a positive cue, it is probably better for them than fear.

I reinforce compliance each time with a reward, and when I need them in now, I can get the whole flock into the run in less than a minute. It comes in handy sometimes not to have to "herd" them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...training-my-chickens-this-past-month.1230489/

The clicker is brilliant idea!