Training "stubborn" hens

[Raubkatze]

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.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

you could only feed them in the run. If they see you filling a feed bowl, they might go in to get food

 

[Raubkatze]

you could only feed them in the run. If they see you filling a feed bowl, they might go in to get food

Their food and water is in there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Treats plus some sort of signal, whether voice command or something like a rattling treat jar. Sound the command (mine is simply "chick chick chick!") and toss a few treats. Repeat a couple times a day and they should learn to come.

 

[Debbie292d]

If you feed them food scraps at all, or like here, it's occasional scrambled eggs and daily it's fermented grains, we use a 2-gallon black plastic bucket. When I walk outside carrying that, they come running.

 

[Altairsky]

I trained my hens to go back inside when I yell the word "inside", while herding them the same way you herd sheep.
But I don't have a run to bribe them with treats. If you have a run it's easier: just chose a code word. Something that sounds short and bossy. My code word is "Pio" for example. You yell that word and give them some treats they absolutely love. Could be BSF, scratch, cheese, meat scraps, fish. Every time you give them a treat, you yell that word.
They will quickly associate the code word to delicious food and will come at you running. Toss the food in the run and that's it.

Another fix could be, remove the food for 4 hours in the afternoon. When you want to call them, use the code word and put their food back in the run. Make sure they have enough time to fill up before roosting time.

 

[Callender Girl]

I agree with the good advice you've been given. But, at least for me, the reality is that some chickens simply have no interest in returning to their nice, safe homes at night. My chickens are loose during the day and nearly all will happily put themselves into their runs at dinnertime when they hear me open the metal feed containers and/or call them.

However, my two Iowa Blues are NEVER allowed out of their coop and run set-up. Like you, I spent endless, stressful hours trying to herd them, and each eluded me overnight at least once (during which times, I felt like the world's worst chicken keeper). For their safety and my sanity, Pippa and Squeaker are always confined.

 

[Raubkatze]

I trained my hens to go back inside when I yell the word "inside", while herding them the same way you herd sheep.
But I don't have a run to bribe them with treats. If you have a run it's easier: just chose a code word. Something that sounds short and bossy. My code word is "Pio" for example. You yell that word and give them some treats they absolutely love. Could be BSF, scratch, cheese, meat scraps, fish. Every time you give them a treat, you yell that word.
They will quickly associate the code word to delicious food and will come at you running. Toss the food in the run and that's it.

Another fix could be, remove the food for 4 hours in the afternoon. When you want to call them, use the code word and put their food back in the run. Make sure they have enough time to fill up before roosting time.

Some of these responses have me wondering....do most people not have food available for their chickens 24/7? Since they have started free ranging, I have noticed a significant down tick in the amount of grain they are consuming, but I do still catch them returning to the run throughout the day to get water and grab a couple bites before heading back out.

 

[Altairsky]

Food should always be available 24/7 unless there is a serious reason to not do so, like for example training reason.

 

[AntiqueB]

Taking food away at night and putting it back in the morning cuts down on other animals trying to get to it, like mice. The chickens aren't going to eat overnight.

My girls are trained to follow me when I call them. I started by making a smallish semicircle from one end of the run around to the other. I let them out in this area, then shook a bag of mealworm. I threw some worms into the run, and closed it when they went in.

The enclosure gradually got bigger, and they began to more reliably go in. Now (it's been a few year), even the newer girls come running when I call. They learn from the older ones.