How to get chickens to come when called and when to free range?

[ChickenDude12345]

How do I get my chickens to come when I call? My chickens are seven weeks old and I am thinking about free ranging them soon. I want them to come when I call in case I need to get them in for some reason. They go in at night from the run into the coop perfectly so I was just wondering how to go about training them. Also when do you guys think would be a good time to let them out to free range for the first time? Thanks

Quick update. I tried to make them come from one side of the run to the side that I was on. I took my bag of meal worms and shook it while saying here chicky chicky and immediately about half of them came running over to me and I fed them. Then some others came and it took about three minutes to get all of them over to me having a little feeding frenzy so if I left the fridge I don’t think I’d have any problems getting them in

 

[Maryeb]

I'm thinking about letting my chickens out to free range but there are alot of free range chickens around and I'm afraid they will go w the other chickens instead of coming back.

 

[ChickenDude12345]

I'm thinking about letting my chickens out to free range but there are alot of free range chickens around and I'm afraid they will go w the other chickens instead of coming back.

Do they go in at night from their run?

 

[Maryeb]

Do they go in at night from their run?

Yes. Unless I forget to open the door to the coop after I cleaned the coop

 

[CrazyCochin]

How do I get my chickens to come when I call? My chickens are seven weeks old and I am thinking about free ranging them soon. I want them to come when I call in case I need to get them in for some reason. They go in at night from the run into the coop perfectly so I was just wondering how to go about training them. Also when do you guys think would be a good time to let them out to free range for the first time? Thanks

FOOD!

 

[ChickenDude12345]

Yes. Unless I forget to open the door to the coop after I cleaned the coop

I would assume they would be OK. Once they know where the roosts are they will want to return to them every night

 

[Granny23]

How do I get my chickens to come when I call? My chickens are seven weeks old and I am thinking about free ranging them soon. I want them to come when I call in case I need to get them in for some reason. They go in at night from the run into the coop perfectly so I was just wondering how to go about training them. Also when do you guys think would be a good time to let them out to free range for the first time? Thanks

I started calling " chick chick chick" with my first 2 . The next 2 picked it up real fast. The last 2 are 2-3 weeks old but they will catch on. The 4 will come running at top speed when I call them because the only time I do call them is to give them something.

I may have inadvertently created a monster. When my foundling rooster Pepper started crowing I got up real fast and quickly let him out of the coop and gave him a little food to try and keep him quiet. Im worried my 3 backyard neighbors won't like the crowing, esp at 630am on Sat and Sunday. He is relatively small , not Banty size, and we haven't had any animal control visits yet so Im assuming all is well. For the most part it has worked. I dont care i f he crows later, just not super early. We can have chickens but roosters can be a problem if neighbors complain. My question is did I train him that if he crows he gets let out of the coop?