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

[pollipazzi]

I hope you have them the treat once they were where you needed them!

they got the treat alright. i am definitely doing something wrong! tonight it went sideways. thelma went in. (i am convinced if louise was just a tiny bit more cooperative my life would be easier). louise would not go in. i tried, but thelma decided to go back out while i was trying to convince louise to join her. then they were both out. took the treat away and said i'd try again in a few minutes. that time i got them both in but it took 40 minutes.
it's doing my head in.

 

[pollipazzi]

it wasn't this hard to get them to go in before! even the little run AND the polytunnel.
i wonder if it's because the weather has been pretty good. but they wouldn't come in during the torrential rain either.

nothing has changed and they are happy out once they are in there. are they just messing with me?

 

[RoyalChick]

it wasn't this hard to get them to go in before! even the little run AND the polytunnel.
i wonder if it's because the weather has been pretty good. but they wouldn't come in during the torrential rain either.

nothing has changed and they are happy out once they are in there. are they just messing with me?

Yes they are just messing with you!
Mine go to roost and then I go out to lock up. As soon as I get there, they all fly off the roost and rush outside. Just a few minutes before they were settling down for the night and then suddenly it is chaos.

 

[pollipazzi]

Yes they are just messing with you!
Mine go to roost and then I go out to lock up. As soon as I get there, they all fly off the roost and rush outside. Just a few minutes before they were settling down for the night and then suddenly it is chaos.

can you remind me where the joy is in having chickens?

 

[pollipazzi]

i hope my neighbour wasn't home because i find myself saying things like:
"the fox will come and eat you up if you don't go in!"

"i'm just trying to help you not die."

"look! thelma is going to eat all the worms and there will be none left for you!"

i have lost the plot.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Sometimes I say “Hawk, Hawk!” and point up to get them running. I’m a bad chicken mom

 

[pollipazzi]

Sometimes I say “Hawk, Hawk!” and point up to get them running. I’m a bad chicken mom

when the torrential rain happened and i was out there soaked through whilst they were ignoring me under the table (and my neighbour heard me. what was she doing outside in the torrential rain anyway?) i was so annoyed that i said "fine. off and go sleep in a tree, i don't care."
i went in the house and they came to the door looking for me. lol! they went in the run for me then.
i think they understand everything we say. lol!

but. that is what my neighbour heard.

 

[pollipazzi]

that one has worked a couple of times.


i'm not proud.

 

[BDutch]

took the treat away

I cant take the treats away bc i scatter the treats in the run where they get locked in later.
If a few hens are inside for the goodies, I lock the door in the front and stand on guard near the back door to see if the others are coming.
The chickens don’t come out as long as they eat the mixed grains/seeds. I shout ‘kippies, kippies’ to call the missing chickens.

If I miss one or a few girls. I close the back door too. Start clapping and searching in the garden. Herd the latecomer(s) to the run. Open the door and give them all a some extra treats.

PS
the mealworms are not the treats I start with. And the chickens don’t get mealworms every day.
Eating a good portions of mixed grains/seeds is okay. Eating lots of mealworms is not (fat and expensive).

Boiled rice and spaghetti (cooking extra/left over) are treats too. A slice of bread , in small pieces is yummy too.

 

[pollipazzi]

i try to alternate treats so they don't get too much of one thing.

the problem i have if thelma goes in and i close the door to go get louise...
is then louise runs away from the door opening and thelma will run out the door as soon as it opens.
it's a dirty trick!