Safer Living Through Bribery

[AmaranthineAcres]

I shake a bag of mealworms and use a particular call. When they come to me I offer a few from my hands, then they follow me to the run. These days I can use their call and they'll come running from far away even if they don't hear the bag. It's a heartwarming humorous sight!

 

[fur-mum]

My current flock is more skittish than my previous girls were (they'd follow me all day hoping for treats), but they still come running if I shake the cup! We got to a point where we could just go outside and start slow clapping and they'd slowly start making their way to the coop. It was nice!

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

Food is the great leveller. I call @ random times. Sometimes I have treats, sometimes I don't but the girls come to check me out anyway. I use different containers too. Mealworms & cracked corn come in a tea cup; table scraps in a stainless steel bowl. I makes it really easy to round the girls up & get them back in their coop.

My chicken call is Chik chik chik Chickie's. They come running from all over, even out of the nest box!

That's what I do. I go out at random times with random treats. Everyone (only 11) come running. Usually, they come running even if I don't call them. If they see me, they come. Very cute, but then I can't even walk because they are so crowed around me. The meal worms I keep in a small plastic pill bottle. If I have that in my jacket pocket, some with jump up and peck at it. But I always feel bad when someone is in the nest box and comes running. I feel like I interrupted her important work!

 

[Kris5902]

Bottle fed? Or you just handle them a lot? We would have a few Angus Holstein crosses every year and they were nuts if left to be raised by the cow.

Beef cattle. All raised by cows, I started working on taming them out at weaning. We only have 13 breeders though... going up a bit this year to raise replacements, so I can be fairly hands on, have been a little less so this year though. We in 6 adults from 2 other herds, and taming them out took longer.

View attachment 1655645 Here's my hubby's team at a heritage farm demonstration years ago, and he's 6'3" tall. John was very sweet, and Walker, not so much. They were both taller at the shoulder than I am!
They were Milking Shorthorns, about four years old in that picture. Steers get really big!
Mary

Oh!!! They are so cute!!! I was looking up yokes and so wanted to do this with a pair I had last year (23 & 24) I’m not allowed to keep any steers that long though. I had them (all 8) trained to follow nicely, and they would even stop when I told them. Our bull was huge, and the new one is getting there as well, so it must be a “guy thing”

When my mealworms come in tomorrow I’ll see if I can get some video of them and figure out the YouTube... but pics of the chickens getting tasty for sure at the least!

 

[Kris5902]

That's what I do. I go out at random times with random treats. Everyone (only 11) come running. Usually, they come running even if I don't call them. If they see me, they come. Very cute, but then I can't even walk because they are so crowed around me. The meal worms I keep in a small plastic pill bottle. If I have that in my jacket pocket, some with jump up and peck at it. But I always feel bad when someone is in the nest box and comes running. I feel like I interrupted her important work!

My girls have gotten mealworms twice or three times now, I had them in a spice jar in my front pocket... yesterday they were coming up to me, I’d pick one up, and they were checking my pocket for treats! They learn so fast. I didn’t even have the jar on me. Lol

I want videos people! We're probably a year from having our own chickens and the local feed store is singing the chick song and I can't hold out forever!

Be careful... chickens can happen sooner than you think! Start building some housing now, I thought I was more than a year away as well. I was looking at eggs one night on Facebook, and husband said “oh just get them, you know you want to, we can make it work” (enabler!) and that’s how my first hatch started in October. 25 chickens and four months later, here I am, and I’m not usually impulsive like that!

 

[TomZilla43]

You can absolutely train them in regards to getting them to follow you to back to the coop/run. I initially used a bright yellow bucket lid which I would put various treats on and then put down for them to enjoy, and they would follow me ANYWHERE as long as I had the yellow lid. Now it takes a little time, but not much they tend to be very quick studies when it comes to detecting treats and how to get them

 

[wyoDreamer]

@Folly's place Thank you for posting that picture! I love milking shorthorns, his are beautiful! I have wanted a team since I was about 10 years old and saw pictures of a team pulling logs out of the swamp from way back when. But, I am realistic enough to know that I am too lazy to own a team, lol.

 

[Al Capon]

So I intend to make a Fort Knox coop with a large attached run. When I'm working in the yard and garden I wanted to let the chickens range to eat bugs scratch about. Then when I go in the house again I'll need a way to get them to go back to their run.

A coworker said I'll have a devil of a time getting them back into the run. But I'm betting if I have a super high value treat (meal worms or something as tasty) I can use it to entice them back to the run. Maybe use a clicker or a special call that's only for this special treat.

What do you think?

I need to be able to put mine up in case of an approaching stray dog or severe weather warning. I started feeding them scratch, but first I shake a coffee can with a handful of aluminum pop rivets in it. It sounds like nothing else they'll hear so it can't be confused and it's relatively loud. Now they come running every time they hear it. Add a handful of meal-worms and I can get them in just about anywhere.

 

[stavo]

My technique is a little different. First I'll start beyond the chickens so that they're between me and their run. I'll do a slow, soft clap for a few seconds to alert them that's it's time to return home. I'm usually wearing garden gloves so it's more like a thud than a clap. That usually gets them moving in the right direction. Then I follow them, holding a leaf rake which I use as an extension of my arms to help corral them to the run entrance. For the most part, they stay ahead of me and the rake, but if need be I'll give them a gentle tap on their rear and then they scurry ahead. They usually stay in a group which makes it easier for me (if they ever conspire to run in different directions, my system would be destroyed, haha). This usually is very effective, but occasionally one will miss the entrance so then I just have to follow her around the run and she'll go in on the second pass by. Once they're all in, sometimes I'll reward them with corn or grubs, but not as a rule. Anyhow, they're less than a year old and I've only been doing this for about three months, but so far so good.

 

[Folly's place]

About oxen; castrated calves grow much taller/ bigger than bulls with the same genetics. In the Midwest, look up the 'Midwest Ox Drovers Association'!
Mary