Ideas for keeping chickens off our porch?

[JustaJemIam]

At first I thought it was "cute" now it is starting to be a pain- letting them come on our patio and in the garden. I will try some of the ideas listed here. Thanks for the tips.

 

[bonchick]

My 6 chickens are staring in the screen door looking for me and began to occupy that spot. We taught them to dominate the chihuahua and border collie/australian shepard/cattle dog mix (Dolly). Now they are chasing the dogs and would not let the chihahua pass by. We have a wrap around veranda with three exits and darned if they didn't see me peeking at them and investigate and sure enough they came searching. Does anyone know of a way to train the Dolly to herd them. Dolly loves to bark at them when it is time to go to bed and thinks it is her job reminding me it is time to close their door. One chicken sits on the door and waits to be lifted into the hen house before I shut the door. So Dolly is already showing herding instincts but she tends to be afraid of them otherwise.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Try a spray bottle with water and spritz them to get them off the porch. But you have to be consistent. You can't let them up sometimes and not others.

I use this to keep them from scratching right at the patio's edge and kicking dirt all over the patio. I only had to spray them once. Then it took a few weeks of just picking up the bottle and saying no in a firm voice and now they don't scratch there at all anymore.

 

[fleur0]

I like the idea of a hot wire because my girls LOVE when I spray them. The run-off from the porch is apparently the tastiest water around.

That said, I'm a city girl and don't have a clue about finding and setting up a hot wire. Presumably it's just a plug in wire that is live? Where can I find such a thing? Or, is there a youtube video that can show me how to do this without electrocuting myself?

THANK YOU!

 

[MuffinMoluffin]

Mine love to dust bath by my owl decoy. I think they think it's one of them...