free ranging getting out of control

[speckledhen]

The rooster really doesn't have anything to do with it. I have one particular hen who is the ringleader in taking small groups on exploration expeditions into the woods, across the power line easement and onto someone else's property. We've been working on a perimeter fence and she knows just where we left off, too! My rooster has been penned up for a few days due to a minor injury and she has disappeared three or four times with her small band of misfits anyway.

 

[ctjim]

i don't mind the free ranging, usually they stay close to the house/barn/garden areas, and always come back to roost at dusk. i throw them treats ie bread/bird seed,crack corn,pumpkins and other garden goodies in random areas. to try to keep them close to shelter. maybe there are some goodies in the brush/woods they're eating this time of year? in the summer they would go there for shade and just at the edge. i def need to start keeping them close by as winter sets in so the predators won't get them. i planned to build them another run off the current 10x22 they have, so i can rotate them between the 2 so i can get grass to come back for them.

 

[joanc]

I let mine out 1-2 hours before dusk so they don't get too far away from the coop/pen area. They do like to explore the woods. A distraction for them this past week has been all of the topsoil and grass that was just disturbed to make a new driveway out to our shed. The coop/pen is right beside the shed.
When I want them to come back closer to the pen area I shake the feed bucket with some scratch in it and most of them come running to me. There are a few who come running to me when ever I go outside. They always seem to think I should have treats for them! lol
I usually stay outside with them when I can, or my DH does. They are out right now so i am going to go back outside. Good luck with your "explorers".

 

[Rosalind]

Sorry, think you will probably have to keep them in a pen. Mine actually stay in the barn 24/7, ever since I learned the hard way that they prefer the neighbors' yards, the busy street, the conservation land and the driveway to my yard. The coyotes and deer, naturally, LOVE my yard and think it's the best yard in the whole neighborhood.

 

[chickflick]

With the cooler weather, chickens are going to travel a lot more. Mine sure have! The hawks are pretty active lately so I've had to keep the chickens in their run a lot. Krisrose is having the same problem with her chickens traveling into the brush. Just have to keep a close eye on them!

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Eve here in the city, and with a wooden privacy fence around all but the front of my yard (low picket fence there) my girls are penned up unless I can watch them all the time!!