I miss my chickens!!

[gritsar]

They've been locked up in their new coop for four days now and I miss going outside between household chores to play with them.

I go out to the coop to visit, but it's not the same.
I took pity on them yesterday and let them out for awhile, but we had a heck of a time convincing them to go back into their new home. We finally used old catch pens from the commercial operation to herd them back to the coop door. Every once in awhile something my SO insists on hanging on to for 20 years comes in handy.
On the other hand, the girls apparently love their new nest boxes and I got 3 eggs this morning. Added to the one I got late yesterday evening, I think I have 4 hens laying. I'm guessing it's three of my lights and one of my buffs.

 

[swampducks]

I find mine are more easily persuaded to head into the coop at dusk. Have you tried letting them out for an hour before?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Oh, they had no problem with going to their old coop. They'd line up at the door at dusk and go right in.
The problem is we moved them to a larger, permanent coop over the weekend. It's several acres away from their old one. I can get them to follow me part of the way with treats, but about halfway there they lose interest and start to wander again. I was feeling pretty confident when I first let them out yesterday because they stayed pretty close to the new coop, but within a hour they were hanging out in their "old playground" again and had to be herded.
They're gonna be locked up in the coop all this coming weekend anyhow, since we are going out of town. I'm hoping by the time we get back they'll have come to realize that the new coop is home.