Getting free range pullets back in the coop

[bigzio]

Yep, the free range flock is truly a blessing for me and for them....they are so happy and healthy the way God ment life to be....enjoy them everyday.

bigzio

 

[FarmerMack]

my ladies wandered a bit far for me one day so I walked my aussie shep pup out to them for her "training". while on the leash i had her herd them back to my comfort zone. LOL she loved it. not sure about the hens, but hey they didnt get permission to cross the road


Farmer MacK

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Just so you know, it's reeeeaaaalllyyy hard to get them back in the coop/run before dark if they are indeed doing Very Important Chicken Things.

I very smugly thought I had mine trained to come back at the "chickie, chickie"call and the scattering of yummy black oil sunflower seeds. They would faithfully come in the evenings when I was ready to put them all to bed. Then I had a week where I had to leave the house at 2pm and wouldn't be back until midnight. I foolishly let them out to range that morning. At 1:30 or so I went out with my seeds and called away. About half of them came back (the greedy Pig Chickens). The rest continued doing their thing. A very hot and sticky hour later (the temps that afternoon were in the mid 90s) I managed to get all but one in the coop. That's after I ran around flapping and shooing, bribing with increasingly yummy treatage, herding with a trashcan lid and a broom and finally herding with my car (they're scared of the car. I was driving in circles like a maniac toyota border collie trying to move them towards the coop.). It was traumatic to us all (and very likely to my neighbors as well). I also discovered that Spot the banty rooster was perfectly capable of flying about 8 feet in the air and was slippery as an eel when freaked. This is the same boy who likes to sit in my lap and have his head rubbed. Spot finally went and hid and I had to go to work. I worried all evening. When I got home that night I went out with a flashlight and starting poking around. It took about half an hour, but I finally found him wedged up in a tiny nook on the outside of the coop. He was as close to his little friends as he could get. It was pitiful. When I pulled him down he made this sad little chirping sound. I put him back in the coop to happy little clucks all around.

They are still really good at coming back once the sun sets. I haven't tried them again in the afternoon. It's just not worth the trauma. That' what I get for being smug I guess.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

OMG City girl! I can just see you running around in that Toyota!!

Days I have to leave I can't let mine run free either. Trying to coop them mid-day frustrates me and just ticks off the chickens!

 

[FarmerMack]

ROTFL to funny, the chicken beats a toyota any day. I wait until dusk and head into the coop with a small amount of cracked corn when i shake it like a rattle the ones that didnt come in do, if I can't get out there before dark they will all be inside on their roosts, well at least until I get there

and they expect that bit of corn before i lock up still. My neighbor says I spoil them, my answer "yes I do and your point? LOL


Farmer Mack

 

[Dar]

Quote:
my girls wonder almost as far as the kids do...
they cross the driveway and sit on the neighbours fence unter the big maple tree and that is way on the other side of the house for sure out of the sight of thier coop

*note on the neighbour she is good about my chickens..she cant wait for the eggs

 

[Aisle12Farms]

Just so you know, it's reeeeaaaalllyyy hard to get them back in the coop/run before dark if they are indeed doing Very Important Chicken Things.

Having read of your experience made me soooo happy. As a fairly new chicken mom, I too foolishly thought I had "figured out" how to get them home when I wanted. I was wrong. Shortly after doing the embarrasing Lawn Rake Shuffle, I realized the error of my ways. Now they only get to go out to play if I have time to wait for sunset to arrive.

Thanks for sharing! You made my day! Hang in there!​

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

You too! It was quite the experience. I was very frustrated as I chased the little snots around the yard and they were completely freaked out. It was like I had gone from the Bringer of All Good Things to a crazed chicken mangling monster. This is the same group of chickens that normally runs to me when I go outside and who follow me around like little puppies on normal afternoons. Sigh.

Clearly I have quite the reputation with my neighbors. Nothing like being the only City Girl for miles. Remind me sometime to tell you about the time I questioned my neighbor about his bull. This would be the same neighbor that only had cows...

 

[Aisle12Farms]

Yep! Good thing the girls have "short memories". The next day, mine still came running to greet me at the gate, beaks drooling in anticipation of the peace offering I brought them.

I've lived in the country for almost two years now (We moved from AZ to VT), and each day I realize how much I have to learn. Ive often said that it's a good thing we live way out in the country because if people REALLY saw our mistakes, they would laugh themselves to death.

 

[Beekissed]

My chicken raising experience is so much more lazy than y'alls!

I leave the pop door open at all times and let them put themselves to bed each night. I usually do a stroll out there before I go to bed, just to say good-night and check everyone over, do a head count.

I guess my conditions here are more conducive to safe free ranging than most folks, as the dogs keep all predators at bay, the perimeter fence keeps the chickens in the yard and they all return to the coop each evening like clockwork. Its pretty carefree chicken keeping here. I go away for 4 days at a time and freerange all the while! I hardly ever close that pop door. If one actually gets confused about going inside, they usually sleep beside the dogs in the building beside their coop....this has only happened twice. No losses in 3 years. I can't imagine having to herd all those ninnies inside in the day time!