Letting chickens out of the pen?

[cmom]

Most chickens will do almost anything for treats. My pullets weren’t to good at going into their coop at night so I started giving them scratch in the eves in their coop. Also they weren't to good at laying their eggs in the nest boxes so I put a golf ball in each nest box and they all started laying in the nest boxes.

 

[CMV]

So, it sounds like everyone is having good luck at the moment. That's great! When I first got my girls I let them out to free range in the late afternoon, and once the sun started setting they would automatically go back to their coop to settle in for the night. As they aged I would let them out for longer periods of time, and they became more daring- often spreading far afield in their wanderings. Then came the days when I would have to round them up earlier than sunset... What a pain!! I would chase chickens through the woods like an idiot for a half hour trying to drive them into their pen.
Well, that was not going to do. I decided to start training them to come running at a certain sound. I have a bag of cracked corn that I shake when I want them to return to their house. They hear the bag shake and they come tearing in from wherever they are at and follow me to their house where they receive a handful of cracked corn. Any latecomers miss out because they only get a handful, so it's incentive for them to arrive ASAP.
I highly recommend everyone train their birds to do this. It makes managing them much easier.