When to trust?

[tball]

I am very new to chickens, i have 4-4week olds. What i would like to know is, (my chicks love grasshoppers) I have been running around with a flyswatter wacking them putting in bottle then the old "chick-chick-chick" trying to teach them to come to me. I have 23 acres so have plenty of room for both feeding and HIDING... i am wandering if any of you think they will come back to me or there run(5x15) or just haul butt?

 

[vstoltzfus]

Are your chickens spending nights in their coop yet? If so, are they returning to it every evening to roost? If they are, then you can let them out to catch grasshoppers and they'll return "home" at night. If you still have them inside, then I would not let them run loose in the yard unless you are sure you can catch them--and they can be very, very, hard to catch. When mine were still in the brooder inside my house I would make a little pen outside (nothing fancy--just some logs and rocks) and let them run around in that for an hour or so as I watched, and then put them back in the brooder. Have fun!

 

[Saltysteele]

if they are used to your coop as being your home, and they know they have food and water there, they will come back.

at what age? i don't know.

mine are 9 weeks. when i would let them out at 5-6 weeks, they'd stay near by.

this past weekend we had very high winds, and it tipped their coop up on its end. they all hid in the tree next to it. they know where home is