Suggestions on herding chickens?

[beerlady]

So in a classic "I thought you were doing it" moment between my husband and myself, we forgot to close the coop and the chickens spent the night with the coop door wide open. They're all fine, but since they're not the most social girls, it is nearly impossible for me to get them back in during daylight hours. The dogs would appreciate being able to go pee in the yard, so have any of you got suggestions for catching/herding/luring chickens back to the coop? I tried watermelon, since they love it so much, but that only caught 2 at a time.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

I just throw scratch in the coop or run after getting their attention

 

[Peeps61]

Mine have been conditioned to respond to a bag of meal worms being shaken. The run from all four corners of my property, and I walk into the coop with them following me like the pied piper. I'll throw some worms on the ground and the hens run over and start eating. Latecomers rush in so they don't miss out. I catch most if not all of them that way. I can usually entice the one or two who won't cooperate in when it starts to get dark.

 

[beerlady]

That's a really great idea! Thank you for the idea