Celticdragonfly
Crowing
Celtic,
Thanks for the reply. What about training them to get back into the coop/run during the daytime? I need to be able to let them out during the day, but also get them in when we can't be out there with them.
Okay, two things on that from my admittedly limited experience.
One is that "chicken" isn't a term for coward for no reason. They are prey and everything likes to eat chicken - so they are easily spooked. If anything spooks mine, they run back into their coop.
Sometimes it's absolutely silly - one starts moving ahead of the others, another breaks into a run to catch up, and as best as I can tell the first one assumes the other must be running FROM something, and OMG they're all back in the coop.
The other method is the yummy treats. Freeze dried mealworms are chicken CRACK. At this point, my daughter @Purple Rose swears they recognize the bag when she comes outside with it, and I think she's right. But if they aren't happening to look at her, just her standing at the coop door, shaking the bag and calling TREATY-TREAT in that high pitched voice that she's always used for it, and they are all HELLO WHY YES I WANT MEALWORMS!!