Does anyone else herd their chickens?

[ChickenGirl300]

Some come when I call them, but there's always some who just don't care enough about treats or know the older girls will bully them away from it. I use a Chicken Stick, which is actually just a six foot oak sapling I found dead in the woods. Now they know the stick means its time to move, so they just go where I herd them now.
(It's funny yours listen to clapping. I've tried a few times, and they just couldn't care less)

 

[Doriss]

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?

Not me, but I've seen a sheepdog round hens up unsupervised! They learn their job so well they seem able to do it with other animals.

 

[ChickyWhicky]

I don't herd mine regularly BUT in a pinch when I need them to move their cheeks, I grab anything that's long (a stick, a broom, ect) and use it to usher and direct them where I want them to go. I have a "chicken stick" that is actually just a horse flag (like a long whip with a flag on the end) and it works like a charm!

 

[jBabychickn]

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?

Mine start heading in around dusk and are in the Coop in time for bed on their own. I love watching them do it tho through my yard cam. Smart bunch!

I’ve come to find that they actually have a daily routine throughout the chicken yard. They have about 1/3 of an acre. They start out at one corner early in the morning and work around the yard like a clock, then by the time it’s dusk they’ve made it all the way back around to their Coop again. Now, of course, this is for the “most part”, there’s plenty of silly girls out there that will do their own thing or come and go with the flow, but they definitely have a flow around the chicken yard for their days out…
Very Interesting to me! I just love those girls! LOL!

 

[jBabychickn]

I don't herd mine regularly BUT in a pinch when I need them to move their cheeks, I grab anything that's long (a stick, a broom, ect) and use it to usher and direct them where I want them to go. I have a "chicken stick" that is actually just a horse flag (like a long whip with a flag on the end) and it works like a charm!

This is true. I originally posted that I don’t round them up; that they go in on their own.

But I forgot about those occasions when a big storm happens to come in during mid-day and you don’t want a buncha wet Hens! (cause mine will totally just stand out there in it!) — I used to use a long Butterfly net that I came across in the Barn one day.

Boy, they hated that thing! They’ll usually go right in with some dancing and grooving from my part holding that long pole out. But, there’s always one or two Bittys that will want to run in circles for a while to get some extra energy out before they finally go in and act like civil little ladies again…

I no longer need to use the Butterfly net, I just use my arms, which is good because I wouldn’t know where that Net is these days anyway … Ha!

 

[BDutch]

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?

I let my chickens free range too. When I want them to return to the coop /run I only have to walk outside with a can filled with scratch and shake it.
It’s very easy to train chickens with treats. Don’t know about ducks.

PS It always works, It makes is easy to set them free for just an hour too. I always lock them up again if nobody is downstairs to keep an eye on what’s going on outside.

 

[Ponypoor]

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?

Yes I will herd my chooks, depending on where they are I either use an 8’ length of strapping to chase the from under the spruce tree, I hold it at the mid way point and I can shift it left or right to contain the chooks in front of me.

I also have a buggy whip that I can use when they are out in open areas to add length to my arms to move them along. Or to point to where I want them to go.

Whenever I am herding the I tell them ‘go home’ as a cue for them to go back to the barn.

The older birds just need to be told to ‘go home’ and they generally go back to the barn

 

[Ponypoor]

I don't herd mine regularly BUT in a pinch when I need them to move their cheeks, I grab anything that's long (a stick, a broom, ect) and use it to usher and direct them where I want them to go. I have a "chicken stick" that is actually just a horse flag (like a long whip with a flag on the end) and it works like a charm!

I think my chooks would freak out with a flag on the buggy whip, they hate when I am doing things like removing blankets from the horses and throwing them over the stall walls, or putting the old sheets over the hay to protect from chicken poops, I think it’s the flapping movement - it seems to trigger them the fly every which way. They just don’t act that way with the buggy whip alone.

 

[ChickyWhicky]

I think my chooks would freak out with a flag on the buggy whip, they hate when I am doing things like removing blankets from the horses and throwing them over the stall walls, or putting the old sheets over the hay to protect from chicken poops, I think it’s the flapping movement - it seems to trigger them the fly every which way. They just don’t act that way with the buggy whip alone.

I dont use it in a manner where Im flapping it and snapping it. Its more just to guide them. Anything long works, Ive used brooms and shovels. Its just to direct them, I usher them forward (from behind) and correct their path with it. Think of it as an extention of your arm.
My flock is constantly under our feet and nothing we do seems to phase them too much. Its going to take more than a flag on a stick to get their panties in a bunch, but thats just my flock dynamic.

 

[kikiruru]

I have enjoyed reading y’all’s posts