Can't get pullets in the coop - should I not even be giving them free range time?

[Pghelp]

Maybe it's not the best method but when I first starting integrating my young ones with the established hens, I would shoo them with a soft switch. To be honest it started with me picking up a kale plant they had stripped all the leaves off. I certainly don't hit them with it, just a gentle shoo shoo sweep. Still got that tired kale and they know when I pick that up it's time to go it. I usually have a bribery/reward of treats in the coop for them too which helps. Frankly anything visible or a consistent sound, and they'll learn. We have hawks too, so no nonsense when it's time to go!

 

[3KillerBs]

Tonight I let my 4.5 week old chicks out into the run half an hour before dark. They seemed distressed as night fell and they didn't know how to get back into their coop.

I tried to gently herd them up the ramp, which partially worked. Some needed a gentle tap on the fluffy butt to urge them in. Some had to be picked up and put in.

 

[RojoMarz]

They may start liking meal worms more...mine did. I tried to train them. While in the run (and door shut), I would loudly bang on metal and shout here chickie chick chick, while rattling the meal worms in a cup. I would them hand feed them (only about a tablespoon split amoungst 7). Now, when I let them free range, I shout here chicken chick chick, lets go play. I keep saying that and hope they all follow me (in am they do, in afternoon, they don't usually.) When I'm ready to put them up from free ranging, I have meal worms in cup. I rattle the cup and shout hut hut, here chickie chick chick, over and over, all while heading back to the coop.

 

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

I totally understand the human-guilt. I think I made a bad mistake with mine, letting them free-range essentially all day long, but after a couple of problems with predators, I know I really really can't do that, but I feel so mean locking them up. They had a pretty lovely life outside......

What happened with the predators in your area? I'd love to hear your experience and hopefully scare me a bit so I'm more careful!

 

[corriemartin]

What happened with the predators in your area? I'd love to hear your experience and hopefully scare me a bit so I'm more careful!

Oh dear. Okay. It started with the day when three chickens disappeared. I found feathers from one of them up in the pasture (where I'm sure they never went), and from another in the back of the barn (where I'm also sure they never went), and no trace of the third one. They were pretty small then, at maybe 7 or 8 weeks. The pasture-feathers one I think was a fox, who I know is living in an abandoned dairy barn across the road. The barn-feathers, I don't know. Raccoon? But in the middle of the day? The missing one? Probably a hawk.

I kept them locked up in their yard for for probably a month after that. I had been only letting them out when I was around, but obviously I wasn't around close enough. But then they were flying out of their yard too much, so I opened the gate again. All was fine for another month. But then a neighbor's dog was let out without its electric collar on, and it came over and slaughtered five, including the two roosters, who looked like they died trying to defend their flock. It took all evening to find the remaining 11 chickens, most of whom were high high high up in the giant mulberry tree that shades their yard. We hadn't yet finished our perimeter fence. That would have stopped the dog, and maybe the fox with a strand of electric wire in the right place. Probably not the raccoon who no doubt lives on the property somewhere, and certainly not the hawk.

The remaining chickens are now in their finally completed chicken tractor, with a two foot skirt around it to prevent diggers (it folds up for moving it), and I'm working on repairing the electro-netting that we inherited when we bought the farm. I plan on clipping their wings so they can't fly out of it. Our lesson: take care of the infrastructure first!

 

[3KillerBs]

Our lesson: take care of the infrastructure first!

A lesson for all of us.

 

[aart]

My run is big enough for the number of chickens I have (and four are bantams so it's plenty big) but I still feel like they're really bored in it.

Don't guilt trip yourself.
Don't assuage it by over feeding 'treats' to them.
Here's some good ideas for 'enrichment'.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

with a two foot skirt around it to prevent diggers (it folds up for moving it)

Ooo I would love to see this! Do you have a build thread or coop page?

 

[Chickassan]

Im curious if the bribery treats are dry or live mealworms.
One works leaps and bounds better than the other.