How to get my flock back inside after supervised time outside.

[LaurelC]

We have ~50 chicks that are 4 weeks old today. Up til now, they've spent their lives inside their permanent mobile coop, converted to brooder mode inside our unheated pole barn. Next week I plan to move the trailer out into our garden area, run an extension cord to it for the heat lamps, and set up some mobile electric netting(that I don't plan to electrify initially) to keep them contained.

I'd like to give them supervised access to the outdoors to allow them to become accustomed to being outside. My concern is that I am the scary wicked lady that they're terrified of, and I don't know how I'll be able to get them to come back into the coop when it's time. My thought is to give them an hour or 2 before dusk, and leave a light on inside the trailer so they will go towards the light, but I'm not confident they'll figure out how to use the door, or go towards the light inside the coop.

What's the play here? Do I just wait til they fall asleep outside and pick them up and put them into the coop one at a time? I'm sure I'm overthinking this, but I try to go into new situations with a plan.

 

[Alexandra Runner]

I usually throw some treats on the ground, and they come running! Not all of them sometimes, but at least a lot of them do.

 

[Evadig]

I kept mine locked up for a week, and then let them out. They stayed close to their coop for a month and put themselves to bed (with some guidance from me). I was worried they wouldn't figure it out either, but they seemed to know the coop was their safe space. There was also only three of them, and they were six and eleven weeks old.

 

[LaurelC]

In our case, the only "treats" they've been given so far are bits of grass I've dug up for them to dig around in. I assume I'll need to get some high value treats and work on getting them treat trained prior to letting them outside?

Part of the reason I brooded them in their coop was specifically so they'd view the coop as "home," no matter where on the farm it goes, I just don't know how much that will mean to them in a situation where there is so much new stuff going on and they're still total idiots.

 

[Evadig]

My biddies (the three mentioned above) never learned to come, but they have started to associate my calling with food. My four original hens weren't allowed to free range till they reliably came, so I think that would be the best idea. Though I'm not sure how you can train fifty chicks!

 

[Peter_Rabbit_Farm]

I like teaching a recall command with all my poultry. I make a certain sound that goes along with a treat or food. So whenever I make the sound all my birds come running. To get them in the coop I stand in the run with food and when everyone is in I lock them up for the night. Mealworm or fly larvae is best to start

 

[LaurelC]

My biddies (the three mentioned above) never learned to come, but they have started to associate my calling with food. My four original hens weren't allowed to free range till they reliably came, so I think that would be the best idea. Though I'm not sure how you can train fifty chicks!

Same! And since we do not/will not have a run, I don't think that recall can be taught any more effectively than offering tasty snacks. Which, frankly, works like a charm for my sheep. They'll eat animal crackers out of my border collie's mouth, but we haven't gotten there yet with the chickens.

 

[KyCoop]

Recall training is so important for more reasons then getting them up for the night. I did it for safety reasons. Like if they were out and it got hawky.

 

[nuthatched]

Night light.

 

[LaurelC]

Recall training is so important for more reasons then getting them up for the night. I did it for safety reasons. Like if they were out and it got hawky.

Certainly, but one has to let them out in order to work on recall, and I also need to get them back inside.