Can chickens get lost????

gabby3535

Songster
11 Years
Oct 11, 2008
283
6
141
Hardwick, NW New Jersey
Okay, it's getting to be almost dusk around here, and only 3 of my 8, free-ranging, chickens have come back so far!
I've been outside calling them ("here chick, chick, chick") and rattling their bag of feed, etc.............but nothing!
Can chickens free-range too far from home base, and get lost?
I cant see them anywhere!
They are all 6 months old, and have been free-ranging for months, without incident...........
 
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oohhh i hope they make it home....
i know if mine are on the other side of the house they can't hear me.. or choose not to.. but as soon as i walk around and they see me they come running...
 
A couple of my hens got spooked by a hawk the other day and they hid themselves real good. I got the others put back in the coop and they were still no where to be found - eventually they decided it was safe again to come out and they did.

Maybe something spooked them and they are just hiding out for a while.
 
I have had mine venture too far on their own and lost their way back to the familiar grounds. Lots of happy chicken talk when I caught up to them and they followed me closely back to familiar ground. Even now, on familiar ground, when a few find themselves alone, the necks start to stretch up as they look around and call out. Once they know where I am, they usually come much closer or sometimes relax and go back to scratching the ground.

We started using a loud hand bell to help them know where they need to be when we want them to come in. Of course, they get a reward. But that bell sound goes farther and gets an instant response.

Hoping the best for you.
 
If you have trees have you looked at the branches

My australorps decided to roost up in the Magnoila branches when I waited to dusk to put them up. Took a couple of well aimed pinecones but they came down
 
Well, I left the coop lights on all night for them, thinking it 'might' help them find their way home........
'and' the barn light, 'and' the outside-the-barn light, 'and' all the exterior house lights and floods!
The last time I went down to check if they'd returned was 1:30 a.m.................and NOTHING.
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Started looking down at the coop area again at first light................NOTHING.
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Looked and called for them every 15 minutes or so, since 7 a.m..................NOTHING.
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Then, just a few minutes ago, I opened the back door to take out some trash, and coming from up by the road
(a good 250 feet away) I hear a faint "buck, buck, ba-gock".........
so I called "here chick, chick, chick"...........

and then here comes the 5 missing little troublemakers............strutting down the driveway........looking
side to side at each other.........................LIKE THEY WERE MOVIE STARS, WALKING DOWN THE RED CARPET!!!!!!
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OMG!
I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad to see them!
And soooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad they were safe and unhurt!
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All I could do was laugh at their "attitude" though!!
It was like they were saying "just what chew been worryin' about, mama"? "We cool"!!!
Jeez, they crack me up!
And I am so glad they found their way back from whatever little chicken adventure they were having!
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Hooray!!!!!!!!!
 
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