chicken flew away!

[Funny Farm7]

help! i just bought a silver laced bantam hen and when i brought her home she flew away and i havent seen her! is there anything i can do to get her to come back? i have other chickens so i was hoping she would hear them and come back. shes been gone since 2pm yesterday. please help!

 

[sourland]

Hopefully she will hear your chickens and be attracted to them. Realistically she may have flown so far that she is out of earshot.

 

[Krissy12052]

They can fly away?!

My chickens flutter around the yard... Mostly when I let them out of the Coop in the morning and they're excited to go play. Or if one of them is a little further than the other 2, s/he will flutter (right near the ground) to quickly catch up!!

I'm sorry about your hen! I hope she comes back!!

 

[darin367]

when you bring them home you want to keep them locked in a few days so they know where home is.... had a roo take off like you did, hasn't never been seen since.... good luck

 

[RedDrgn]

They can fly away?!

My chickens flutter around the yard... Mostly when I let them out of the Coop in the morning and they're excited to go play. Or if one of them is a little further than the other 2, s/he will flutter (right near the ground) to quickly catch up!!

I'm sorry about your hen! I hope she comes back!!

Bantams, and even some light-weight LF, can fly as well as most wild birds.

 

[Funny Farm7]

yes they can fly if their wings arent clipped , like this one was not clipped. i would have put her in the pen , had she not flew out of the cage i brought her home in. so i never had a chance to do anything..

 

[janinepeters]

It's a good idea to train your birds to come to a specific call for a reward of some nice treat (scratch, birdseed, etc.) before you ever let them free range. That way, if they fly or wander off, you can easily get them to come back when you want them.

It's easy to train them: Once or twice a day, go out to the coop and make the call (I yell "chick - chick - chicken" in a high pitched voice), then give them the treat. It's only 1-2 weeks before they learn to come running as soon as you call.

Most mature chickens cannot fly over a 4 ft fence. Slender bodied birds are the best flyers, such as hamburgs, for example. Rounder bodied, short-winged birds like cochins, brahmas, etc. (even if they're bantams) can only hop-fly. I have one hamburg who can easily fly over the fence and even up onto the roof of the house, but she hardly ever does so, because none of her flock mates can follow her! She always returns to the flock after an excursion.