Made a free ranging mistake and now my birds are in the neighbor's tree.....

[Moochie]

Title basically. I have a pair (male female) that I thought could free range with my chickens and when I took my eyes off of them well they flew off.. Went into the next door neighbor's tree. When I sun rises I will try to lure them with feed back into the yard. If they are still there.. It was dark when they went up there so hopefully they will be there in the morning.
Man this sucks. Luckily it was the tree in their frontyard, if they went into the back the neighbor's dog would have gotten them.
I haven't invested anything in these birds so if I lose them then that's that I guess. I will try to the best of my ability to get them back though. They are really hard to catch. I will try a net but they're fast and flighty. That whole guinea fowl call thing never worked for me so I couldn't call them back. I tried shaking their mealworm container but they didn't budge. They're just up in the tree.
Any suggestions for luring them back other than food? Will they naturally come back to the flock or will they roam the neighborhood? If the latter well there goes the guineas...

 

[Dreyadin]

How old were they when you got them.. and how long have you had them?

It takes time and a little bit longer for them to get their noggins wired to where home is.

Mine were 2 weeks older than our 3 day old chicks (of which 2 Ameraucana roos were bold and lead the way- the keets followed them everywhere. Also is probably why mine don't/ didn't fly very much.)

Can make a favorite spot for them.. with a mirror. They are entranced with their reflection.

 

[Hotcookie]

Yes - good question. How old were they, and how long did you keep them penned up in their home before you let them outside to free range? In order for them to know where their "home" is, they need to be kept inside for at least 6 weeks. Good luck - hopefully you can lure them back. Did you try anything besides meal worms? Maybe scratch made with cracked corn and white millet? Mine love it. Or perhaps thawed out frozen corn or peas? Chopped lettuce? Hope they come back for you!

 

[Roseheart16]

Perhaps they didn't come back because it was dark? When mine go up in their roosts at night, not even their meal worms can get them to come down. I don't know very much about free ranging though. I just started free ranging mine... but I hope you get them back!!

 

[Dreyadin]

If they can't see.. they won't come down. If you have floodlights- or use a car's headlights so they can see well enough to judge the distance to land- it helps.