is it time to keep them locked up PERIOD?

[sheeshshe]

Today I can't keep the chickens in the yard AT ALL. they won't stay period. they keep taking off immediately and they will not stay around. You think its time to keep them in the run all day? At this point I don't think they're ever going to behave again..

I'm sad to take away their freedom but at the same time I'm 38w preggo and I can't be chasing them ALL DAY LONG. if it were once or twice I don't mind but now they aren't staying at all. period.

 

[gritsar]

Are they going places they can't or shouldn't be?
My flock goes pretty much wherever they feel like it in the daytime. They are all back in the coop on the roosts at bedtime.

 

[vstoltzfus]

Oh, I feel your pain. I just locked up my flock permanently in their run. They were free-ranging themselves right off of my 3 acres and onto my neighbor's patio! Once in a while I'll let them out a couple of hours before dusk. They don't have enough time to go exploring, and stay pretty much around the hen house. I did expand the size of the run to 40X8 for 11 hens, because I wanted them to have more than enough room to roam.

 

[sheeshshe]

they aren't staying here at all, they keep going to the neighbors instead.

I liked it when they'd stay here and perhaps roam off maybe once or twice, but yesterday and today they just aren't staying here at all. they want nothing to do with staying here

Makes me sad because I like them having freedom. esp since they'll be locked up all winter

 

[animal_lover03]

Have you tried shaking a bag of corn or something to get them to come, my girls come when I shake a bag of corn and scream "GIRLS", they come running.

 

[sheeshshe]

that the other thing.. I had a call that they would come to. but now they won't even come to THAT!!!

 

[kimboolah]

Here's what works for me--sometimes its just the SIGHT of me and I can hear their little feet pounding the ground toward me, other days it takes the most favorite treat of the century--hamburger buns. I yell "heeeeeeeeeeeeeere Chooka chooka chook!!" in a high falsetto voice (I have no neighbors, thank goodness!). And sometimes I have to chase them.

I don't think there is a magic way to make it happen everytime. Congrats on your new baby, too~!

 

[Uppity Peon]

Are the neighbors feeding them bread crumbs? Or do they have something really tasty growing in the garden? It would be a shame to have to lock them up, but if they have dogs over there, that's what I would do.