Our current routine is to let the girls free range from roughly 8am to 8pm. We like to get them back in the run before true sundown because we hear coyotes just about every evening during the warmer months, I've also now found racoon tracks around the run.
Check out the size of this guy next to the paw print of my 18 pound dog:
The three Australorps are easy. They come when they see me, and they follow me around the yard. If they get a wild hair they are pretty easy to catch and physically move to the run. The two EEs on the other hand are a nightmare to get inside. It's always a two person job, and always takes 30 minutes or more of chasing them around before we get lucky with positioning. I don't want to keep doing this. I recently got diagnosed with RA, I've been taking a lot of pleasure in caring for and loving on my chickens while I feel like a human pin cushion right now, except for this one thing.
Is it possible to train them to go back to the run on command? If there was ever and emergency where they needed to get inside quickly, these two chickens would be SOL.
Check out the size of this guy next to the paw print of my 18 pound dog:
The three Australorps are easy. They come when they see me, and they follow me around the yard. If they get a wild hair they are pretty easy to catch and physically move to the run. The two EEs on the other hand are a nightmare to get inside. It's always a two person job, and always takes 30 minutes or more of chasing them around before we get lucky with positioning. I don't want to keep doing this. I recently got diagnosed with RA, I've been taking a lot of pleasure in caring for and loving on my chickens while I feel like a human pin cushion right now, except for this one thing.
Is it possible to train them to go back to the run on command? If there was ever and emergency where they needed to get inside quickly, these two chickens would be SOL.
