Training "stubborn" hens

[The Good Grumble]

To each their own. I have full automation in my coop, no issues with rats, mice, birds, no food spilled, so why do I have to waste time and wear my back to feed chickens twice a day? I just dump a bucket of grains in the treadle feeder once a month and that's it.

Well youre lucky. Rodents, attracting other wildlife, bears, raccoons, skunk possum etc. are a real problem for the majority of chicken owners. So I absolutely err on the side of caution. When you start to notice the problem it is usually to late. Goodness gracious just read all the posts on folks trying to eradicate rats.

I have three feeding stations. Girls are fed in morning. (Bantam flock and Egg flock) Enough that they eat the majority of it. Evening free rangers get a refresher. So they all come barreling back into the run. The bantams have a huge fenced in area. So I can feed in the morning and not again for the day. But I still pick up all food at night.

While it works for you, great. But for those of us with predator and rodent problems that wouldn’t be best practice. I would hate for someone to think that leaving food out 24/7 is okay, then have an animal tear into their coop for a free meal with a side of chicken.

 

[SourRoses]

I also now have a new problem of the girls heading over to the neighbors.

Sounds like you need some fencing.
Rather than a secure run, we have ours in "yards"... so they have a lot more room but are still contained. The 4ft high welded wire "no-climb" style of fencing costs less but is sturdy. Any chicken capable of flying over gets caught and one wings primary feathers clipped.
When we need to catch difficult ones, we corral them first. Handiest thing is some of that dog exercise pen... we have some sections with 3-4 panels. Use corners and areas that would naturally block a chicken (such as your house, leading edge of the coop, etc) anywhere they skitter around to get away and set up the fencing there. Have one person waiting some steps away to close the fencing while the other dances with the chicken until they run off into the corral. Once they're in the designated area, carefully move the fencing inwards until just a couple chickens could fit, the lean over the fence and pick them up.
Here, it seems like the lighter a chicken is, the naughtier. I am not quick enough to catch any of them despite my lower age bracket.
And I don't wish to treat train for reasons that are hard to articulate. Mainly, what happens one day when you've run out of treats? Also, most convenient (bagged) treats are too fatty to be healthy for them, and calling with treats is the sort of scenario where more would be fed than a person really meant to. Also, baiting an animal to go where it should be seems like rewarding them for running off in the first place. I just prefer to treat occasionally (not every day!) and randomly as a surprise for well-behaving cute little chickens who are not (at that moment) making me want to tear my hair out.

 

[Raubkatze]

Sounds like you need some fencing.
Rather than a secure run, we have ours in "yards"... so they have a lot more room but are still contained. The 4ft high welded wire "no-climb" style of fencing costs less but is sturdy. Any chicken capable of flying over gets caught and one wings primary feathers clipped.
When we need to catch difficult ones, we corral them first. Handiest thing is some of that dog exercise pen... we have some sections with 3-4 panels. Use corners and areas that would naturally block a chicken (such as your house, leading edge of the coop, etc) anywhere they skitter around to get away and set up the fencing there. Have one person waiting some steps away to close the fencing while the other dances with the chicken until they run off into the corral. Once they're in the designated area, carefully move the fencing inwards until just a couple chickens could fit, the lean over the fence and pick them up.
Here, it seems like the lighter a chicken is, the naughtier. I am not quick enough to catch any of them despite my lower age bracket.
And I don't wish to treat train for reasons that are hard to articulate. Mainly, what happens one day when you've run out of treats? Also, most convenient (bagged) treats are too fatty to be healthy for them, and calling with treats is the sort of scenario where more would be fed than a person really meant to. Also, baiting an animal to go where it should be seems like rewarding them for running off in the first place. I just prefer to treat occasionally (not every day!) and randomly as a surprise for well-behaving cute little chickens who are not (at that moment) making me want to tear my hair out.

I made a separate post about the yard issue. I live on 20 acres. Fencing myself off from the neighbor would be a huge undertaking. For now they are back in their run while we have a few days of really bad weather, and they will be in their run all weekend while we are out of town and a friend is watching the house. We are mulling over all the solutions.

 

[Egger Anna]

Tossing treats or your regular feed helps to get them in the run.

 

[ChaosMom]

I made a separate post about the yard issue. I live on 20 acres. Fencing myself off from the neighbor would be a huge undertaking. For now they are back in their run while we have a few days of really bad weather, and they will be in their run all weekend while we are out of town and a friend is watching the house. We are mulling over all the solutions.

It really does sound like movable fencing, electrified or not, might be your solution. If your run is situated in an open area, you can use it as one side of a fenced area, changing it to another area every several days.

I’m delighted with the non-electrified movable fencing we bought from https://www.premier1supplies.com/poultry/fencing.php

 

[SourRoses]

I live on 20 acres. Fencing myself off from the neighbor would be a huge undertaking.

That's why Yards are good! You can have one outside the run and let your chickens roam the area that you can afford to fence. Plus it slows down predators (doesn't stop, but if the chickens are aware they have a little more time to get away).

 

[WhySayWhat]

I keep my hens in a fully enclosed run, but I have had to add a light source to their coop so that they go in it at night, otherwise, they all just stay outside! Even though the run is fairly well "predator proof", I know that accidents happen, and something could get in if it wanted. I have a shop light (LED 4' light, was like $30 at The Home Depot) set on a timer, it turns on at 7am and turns off at 10pm. I used to adjust it for the seasons, but I'm semi-lazy and don't like climbing the ladder to the second story of their coop, so now I just leave it to do its thing year-round. For my small chick coop/hospital coop, when it is in use, I use a battery-operated light that has a remote and a timer so that the chicks learn to go back into the coop area when it gets dark. Then, when they get integrated, they follow the "aunties" into the main coop at night.

Long winded story short, maybe add a light source to where you want them at night?

 

[Appalachickens]

To each their own. I have full automation in my coop, no issues with rats, mice, birds, no food spilled, so why do I have to waste time and wear my back to feed chickens twice a day? I just dump a bucket of grains in the treadle feeder once a month and that's it.
My free ranging chickens eat 1€ of food each per month in the good season, but I want them to have food available all the time because they better self regulate and there are less fights and pecking order issues.
When the dominant hens are out free ranging, the shy hens and young pullet can use the feeder undisturbed. Throwing some food out only twice a day, there will always be those who eat like freaking vacuum cleaners, and the shy ones never manage to eat enough.

This is my plan. I want to let them free range in the evenings when I can keep an eye out, but I have a treadle feeder and two 10 gallon nipple waterers. My goal is to be able to leave them for a week or so when I go on vacation.