i somehow acquired 2 runaways and i have questions. please help

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BDutch said:
I give my chickens always chick feed too as a choice. It has more protein and less calcium. It’s perfect as a base feed when they moult.

I have a moulting chicken without a tail. This funny looking situation lasted for a week or so. Her tail start to grow back visibly now.

I never buy meat or fish for my chickens. Free ranging gives them the opportunity to find animal protein themselves.
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bdutch, when you said you keep your chickens in the run early morning, what time do you let them out?

when i was talking to the next door neighbour yesterday, she said she saw one of the foxes up the road while she was walking her dog and it was bright out. all this fox stuff is making me worry.

i kept them in the run this morning to see how they got on. they (louise) made an awful lot of noise. but i had stuff i had to do. also, there's a couple of things coming up in a few days where they will have to be in for awhile in the morning, and they need to be in there. hopefully not as dramatic as today. but they have everything they need in there, and there's nothing i can do if they make noise while i'm gone (besides saying "shhhh" through the camera. that sometimes works. lol!) they are still in there and they are being quiet now (8:20am)

can you tell me if you have some sort of routine that you have your chickens on and did you have any trouble getting them used to it?

if i let them out in the morning, i have a really hard time getting them to go back in until the evening.
i try treats and they blatantly ignore me. even in torrential rain. do you have any other tricks for getting them back in?
 
pollipazzi said:
bdutch, when you said you keep your chickens in the run early morning, what time do you let them out?

when i was talking to the next door neighbour yesterday, she said she saw one of the foxes up the road while she was walking her dog and it was bright out. all this fox stuff is making me worry.

i kept them in the run this morning to see how they got on. they (louise) made an awful lot of noise. but i had stuff i had to do. also, there's a couple of things coming up in a few days where they will have to be in for awhile in the morning, and they need to be in there. hopefully not as dramatic as today. but they have everything they need in there, and there's nothing i can do if they make noise while i'm gone (besides saying "shhhh" through the camera. that sometimes works. lol!) they are still in there and they are being quiet now (8:20am)

can you tell me if you have some sort of routine that you have your chickens on and did you have any trouble getting them used to it?

if i let them out in the morning, i have a really hard time getting them to go back in until the evening.
i try treats and they blatantly ignore me. even in torrential rain. do you have any other tricks for getting them back in?
Click to expand...
I have mine “treat trained”. When I take our food scraps out every other day, they all come running to see what I have. It’s worked great when I have to get them in the run quickly (ex, if I have to open their large fenced area to bring in woodchips when the dogs are out). It usually only takes about 2 minutes to get 20+ chickens in the run. If they get used to you bringing them goodies, they will come running to see what you have. Throw the treats where you want them to go. Best treats: grapes, tuna, and watermelon seem to get mine the most motivated to move quickly.
 
Iluveggers said:
I have mine “treat trained”. When I take our food scraps out every other day, they all come running to see what I have. It’s worked great when I have to get them in the run quickly (ex, if I have to open their large fenced area to bring in woodchips when the dogs are out). It usually only takes about 2 minutes to get 20+ chickens in the run. If they get used to you bringing them goodies, they will come running to see what you have. Throw the treats where you want them to go. Best treats: grapes, tuna, and watermelon seem to get mine the most motivated to move quickly.
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they used to come running. now they ignore, no matter what treat i have 😕

but thank you for trying!
 
pollipazzi said:
bdutch, when you said you keep your chickens in the run early morning, what time do you let them out?

when i was talking to the next door neighbour yesterday, she said she saw one of the foxes up the road while she was walking her dog and it was bright out. all this fox stuff is making me worry.

i kept them in the run this morning to see how they got on. they (louise) made an awful lot of noise. but i had stuff i had to do. also, there's a couple of things coming up in a few days where they will have to be in for awhile in the morning, and they need to be in there. hopefully not as dramatic as today. but they have everything they need in there, and there's nothing i can do if they make noise while i'm gone (besides saying "shhhh" through the camera. that sometimes works. lol!) they are still in there and they are being quiet now (8:20am)

can you tell me if you have some sort of routine that you have your chickens on and did you have any trouble getting them used to it?

if i let them out in the morning, i have a really hard time getting them to go back in until the evening.
i try treats and they blatantly ignore me. even in torrential rain. do you have any other tricks for getting them back in?
Click to expand...
Normally I keep them inside the large run until noon - 14.pm. The auto pop door to the run opens sometime after dusk, around sunrise. When I go to work or have an appointment they stay in inside until MDH or I come home. We dont free range if nobody is at home.

When we are at home in the morning but have to lock them up in the afternoon, the chickens often free range from 9. or 10pm. I give treats (grain and seed mix) and I call them, clap my hands. Normally they return within 5 minutes. Sometimes 1 or 2 stay behind. If I go out to call them a second time after 10 minutes more they are always complete (8)..
I rather not let the chickens free range if they have less then 2 hours to free range. Bc its difficult to get them inside after just 1 hour.

I ‘trained’ them with mixed grains and a few meal worms to go back to the run. I give the treats every day. Even if they returned to the coop by themselves around sunset.
 
I don’t give any food if they free range except for the pellets.
pollipazzi said:
they used to come running. now they ignore, no matter what treat i have 😕

but thank you for trying!
Click to expand...
Try to find out what kind of treats they like most. Mine are very fond of rice, spaghetti, mealworms, cooked green beans, grapes, .
Never give treats or favourite food if the free range. Always if you want them to return to the run.
 
BDutch said:
Normally I keep them inside the large run until noon - 14.pm. The auto pop door to the run opens sometime after dusk, around sunrise. When I go to work or have an appointment they stay in inside until MDH or I come home. We dont free range if nobody is at home.

When we are at home in the morning but have to lock them up in the afternoon, the chickens often free range from 9. or 10pm. I give treats (grain and seed mix) and I call them, clap my hands. Normally they return within 5 minutes. Sometimes 1 or 2 stay behind. If I go out to call them a second time after 10 minutes more they are always complete (8)..
I rather not let the chickens free range if they have less then 2 hours to free range. Bc its difficult to get them inside after just 1 hour.

I ‘trained’ them with mixed grains and a few meal worms to go back to the run. I give the treats every day. Even if they returned to the coop by themselves around sunset.
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thank you for this!
the problem i am having is if i let them out in the morning, they won't go in after a couple hours.

today they were out for 7 hours and were being difficult about going in. most days they are out longer than 7 hours.

i need to figure out how to get them to go in if i have an appointment, otherwise, i would have to keep them in the whole day.
i don't want to do that either, but it's not worth the risk with the foxes and hawks. they used to come when i called most of the time but not lately.
they do want to go in when it's time to go to bed. so it's pretty much always on their terms.
 
BDutch said:
I dont give any food

Try to find out what kind of treats they like most. Mine are very fond of rice, spaghetti, mealworms, cooked green beans, grapes, .
Never give treats or favourite food if the free range. Always if you want them to return to the run.
Click to expand...
i have been giving them a treat in the morning because in the beginning, they would try to hop the wall to eat the crow's bread someone puts in the green. so if i gave them something, they would stay in the yard. now it seems expected.
i also give them something to get them to go in the run in the evening.
should i try no more morning treat?
 

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