attracting my chickens to the front of the house

[fzouk]

My chickens all love to spend their days in the back of the house and they're doing a great job eating the bugs back there... but we live in the FRONT of the house mostly so that's where I want them eating ticks and things. I know they are very food motivated but they don't know the sound of food and even when I catch one of their eyes and they watch me pour food on the ground it doesn't get them up to the front.

Do you guys have any ideas for how to attract them up to the front of the house?

Thanks!

 

[Opa]

You should be able to "lead" them by tossing small amounts of scratch grain ahead of them until you get them to front of yard then scatter more scratch.

 

[cyanne]

The best way to guarantee that your chickens will make a beeline for a certain area is to try to keep them AWAY from that area. Trust me on this one, anywhere you DON'T want them to be is the place they will spend most of their time.

The trick is to figure out a way to make them think you don't want them in the front yard....a 7 foot high fence should just about do the trick. I know my chickens would trample each other to find out what irresistible treat was on the other side of such a fence.

 

[KittyKelly]

Maybe if you kept a feeder and/or waterer in the front only?

 

[cyanne]

In all seriousness, though, try throwing out treats in the area you are trying to get them to come to.

The door nearest to our kitchen opens up to the deck on the side of our house, and whenever we have kitchen scraps we walk out there to toss them to our chickens. Usually, we pile the scraps in a bowl and leave them on the counter overnight, then toss them in the morning.

It did not take the chickens long to figure out that the little side yard area was treat central, so now it is the first place they all run for when I let them out of the coop in the morning and they check it over thoroughly several times throughout the day 'just in case' some treats magically appear when they aren't looking!

 

[fzouk]

Thanks for the tips! I guess when I let them out in the morning, since they make a beeline for the back of the house I'll have to IMMEDIATELY start scattering tasty stuff for them towards the front and maybe have something else yummy waiting for them up there. Hmmmmm...

Thanks!

 

[annek]

Worst case they will eventually clean out the bugs in the back and go to the front for greener pastures!