Help! Chicks escaped!

[SlowPancakes404]

Hello. I have a small farm in my backyard with twelve chickens (six juvenile, six fully adult layers.) Our fence is secure all around our yard, but we have a wooden gate with big gaps. I didn’t have any issues until yesterday, when I found them on the front lawn. I tried to block the holes, but they knocked it down today and got out again. They live in a temporary 4x4 tractor with a small door I can open for them to let them pasture until they are big enough to go into the big coop we built. We have been looking for about 2 hours with no luck. Is there anything I can do? Are they gone? Or will they come back? Please help! (UPDATE: We found the rest of the chicks and now we are baiting them into the backyard.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Are they all gone? Is there some place they could fly up to?

 

[Kathy Golla]

Do you have a treat you can try to lure them back in with? Youve probably already tried that.

 

[SlowPancakes404]

Are they all gone? Is there some place they could fly up to?

No, we captured one and one decided to stay behind.

 

[bobbi-j]

Since chickens are creatures of habit, they'll hopefully come back home to roost.

 

[Eggcessive]

Try to quietly tiptoe around looking for them. If you see any, then make a clucking sound and try to lure them closer, but don’t make lots of noise or chase them. Look around your yard for any roosting spots up off the ground where they could jump to. Try throwing out a treat or some chick crumbles. The danger is that any dogs, cats, or hawks can easily pick them off, so hopefully they will hide in the grass or bushes. Good luck.

 

[SlowPancakes404]

UP

Are they all gone? Is there some place they could fly up to?

we wrangled then back into the yard and we sealed the hole for good.

 

[SlowPancakes404]

Try to quietly tiptoe around looking for them. If you see any, then make a clucking sound and try to lure them closer, but don’t make lots of noise or chase them. Look around your yard for any roosting spots up off the ground where they could jump to. Try throwing out a treat or some chick crumbles. The danger is that any dogs, cats, or hawks can easily pick them off, so hopefully they will hide in the grass or bushes. Good luck.

We saw them and we managed to trap them in the garage which leads to the backyard. Thanks for helping!

 

[SlowPancakes404]

Since chickens are creatures of habit, they'll hopefully come back home to roost.

They sure did come back, although we had to do a bit of convincing.

 

[SlowPancakes404]

Do you have a treat you can try to lure them back in with? Youve probably already tried that.

They came back and we gave them a bread trail into the garage which leads to the backyard.