{Less} Free Range Training?

nsyod

Hatching
7 Years
Jun 24, 2012
6
0
7
We have had our 12 chickens since February, we got them as baby chicks, we are new to raising chickens. We have a coop but let them out to free range whenever we can. They are in their coop each night. We love it because they eat so many bugs. They seem to be getting braver however, and we are finding them farther and farther away from the coop. Our property is relatively large and they generally stay close to home. They are however, getting farther and farther away from their coop - today they were at our neighbors pool, maybe 100 yards from their coop. Is there a way to train them or to keep them closer to home?
 
We have had our 12 chickens since February, we got them as baby chicks, we are new to raising chickens. We have a coop but let them out to free range whenever we can. They are in their coop each night. We love it because they eat so many bugs. They seem to be getting braver however, and we are finding them farther and farther away from the coop. Our property is relatively large and they generally stay close to home. They are however, getting farther and farther away from their coop - today they were at our neighbors pool, maybe 100 yards from their coop. Is there a way to train them or to keep them closer to home?
if you want them close to the coop your going to need a pen, or fencing. Im not sure how far they will go but if your thinking you can keep them by the coop with out containing them Im interested in how you do it lol.
 
I don't know if you have a roo or not, nor am I saying that this will work for you (or anyone else), but adding a roo to our girls did wonders for keeping our flock on our property.

Pre-roo and our five hens tended to split into 2-3 parts and scatter all over the yard (about 2/3 acre with their coop in the approximate middle). They'd get into everything from flower beds to gardens, and that included our neighbors, if we weren't outside among them at all times. So when we free ranged, my DH and I were their roos and kept them together and on our property. Every time we left them alone (even to sit on the porch and just watch), they'd go everywhere (including into the two roads along our property. So we could never let them out and actually relax or do yard work because we always had to watch the girls.

A week after integrating Remy and those days were over. For the first week, he tested the property boundaries and we stayed with the flock and made sure they stayed on our property; just shooshing them back when they went too far or headed for a road (thankfully they are little trafficked roads). After that, he pretty much knew what his boundaries were. Ever since, the flock stays together pretty well; find the roo and you'll find the rest (unless someone is back in the coop laying an egg). We can do yard work or sit on the porch and we don't have to tail them all over the yard and keep them on our property. It's fantastic.
 
There is no sure way to rein in their wandering except fencing. My rooster rarely goes out 100 feet, he likes to hang with the RIRs and they don't go far often. The BPRs however were born with two feet to use and they go.
 

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