bell training free range chickens

[Taz22]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Plywood on blocks weighted down.

I read that a plastic hawk on apst will keep the others away. Any truth?

Years ago, I bought a plastic owl to keep rabbits away from the garden. The owl had a bobble head that moved in the breeze. It worked for awhile, then the rabbits came right back to grazing. I’m guessing a plastic hawk will work about the same.

[Diana Holbrook]

Maybe if you move the hawk around, it might work awhile in each location. - Keep it fresh.

Hubby flies his drone and takes pictures over our property too, frequently... The intent is not to deter birds of prey, but they always leave when he takes off. - Side benefit! I think the more things people do to make it tougher or more confusing the better. The combination of things we do here.... mixed sized animals all hanging together, dogs mingling with them, drone, perimeter fencing, cover available, all seem to have done the trick. We have eagles we see daily overhead... We have coyotes and bears and weasels and raccoons and even a cougar who have been photographed on our wildlife cam on our lower property... and none have come inside the fence or taken any of our animals. - knock on wood!

[TMSRetired]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

The wife and I have always kept chickens.
We live in an upscale suburban type neighborhood near San Francisco on a 3/4 acre property.
Our chickens are kept in a pen because predators and the lack of time to hunt eggs down and I don’t want to **** off the neighbors.
It is what it is and our current 4 hens are no legal problems or upset neighbors.

Now that we are retiring to an extremely rural area up north we want to free range our chickens at our new place.
I just want them to be somewhat safe.
I don’t care about the neighbors because they are far away.
I’d like to have them come to the coop at night to lock them down for safety.
We have a “ships bell” on an out building near the future coop area that I’d like to ring and give treats to the hens to somewhat train them so they would come in at night.
Is that “doable” ?

I’m also thinking that I need to keep a lot more hens due to predators eating them.
How many hens do you think the wild life will harvest from me.
We are PNW.
Bears,cats,coons and all sorts of critters.
Thank you.
Andy

Lock them up in the coop for a few days..2-3. Feed and water them IN the coop.
Now let them out ...use a temp fencing to keep them close to the coop. They should all go in starting at dusk.

That's how you train them. Raised chickens for over 20 years out in the country. Never needed a bell.
Day old chicks in the spare bedroom. Once they feathered out they went into the coop using the above technique. Always worked.

Mine did not free range due to hawks, foxes and every other predator that loves chicken.

I had fencing that I was able to rotate along with netting along the top.

[fisheye]

We had ducks and if we were not careful raccoons would kill them all. We locked them up in the 10'X10' dog kennels that I put a roof on. But if there was a hole; the raccoons would find it.

It wasn't only the raccoons; skunks would squeeze right through the 2"X2" chain link fencing. We did not have any problems from the skunks killing the ducks; but they would eat their eggs and sometimes they would eat so many that they could not fit back through the fencing. Fortunately we did not have weasels because I do not think our system would stop them. To try and keep out the skunks we applied another layer of chicken wire over the chain link fencing; but sometimes we would get a skunk stuck between the two fences - that can be a problem.

Most of the time we would not have any problems and our ducks would free range by our little pond during the day. Sometimes we even went for years without loosing one and then other times the predators got our number. Many times at night I listened to fox prowling around the cages and looking for an opportunity.

[SaraR.]

Our black banty never got ate by predators. She would only come into the coop sometimes at night. Otherwise we'd see her on the telephone poll sitting with the crows during the day. Her name was Princess.
New neighbors from the city moved in next door. Planted flowers all around the front of their house. I'd be on my way to work to see Princess scratching up their flowerbed. Arrived home and the neighbor said nothing .....only used his finger to motion to call me over. He held a straight face.


My first thought was "oh no, I am in BIG trouble!!". He clearly knew we had chickens in our yard.

I walked over then he pointed up above us to the birds sitting together on the telephone pole saying "See that one crow there in the middle?! he thinks he's a chicken!! He's digging up our flowers just like a chicken!!" It was difficult but I kept a straight face and sympathized with him.

[beckerd2]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

The wife and I have always kept chickens.
We live in an upscale suburban type neighborhood near San Francisco on a 3/4 acre property.
Our chickens are kept in a pen because predators and the lack of time to hunt eggs down and I don’t want to **** off the neighbors.
It is what it is and our current 4 hens are no legal problems or upset neighbors.

Now that we are retiring to an extremely rural area up north we want to free range our chickens at our new place.
I just want them to be somewhat safe.
I don’t care about the neighbors because they are far away.
I’d like to have them come to the coop at night to lock them down for safety.
We have a “ships bell” on an out building near the future coop area that I’d like to ring and give treats to the hens to somewhat train them so they would come in at night.
Is that “doable” ?

I’m also thinking that I need to keep a lot more hens due to predators eating them.
How many hens do you think the wild life will harvest from me.
We are PNW.
Bears,cats,coons and all sorts of critters.
Thank you.
Andy

Here is some good info on what you are asking ( copy and pasted the following info from thehappychickencoop.......if you want to read more info then here is the link: ) https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/...to-their-coop/




" There are really only three sure-fire ways to get your chickens back into the safety of their coop. And one of them is to let them think it was their idea in the first place.

Chickens are creatures of habit, and once they know where their roost is, they will return to it every night–like clockwork.

Now, I know this may not be the answer you are looking for because sometimes you are in a bit of a hurry, but I promise you it is the least frustrating way to get your chickens to return to their coop every day.

Here’s what to do:

Keep your chickens in their coop for 1-2 weeks.
Start letting them out at the same time every morning
Watch to see when your chickens return to their roost
Close the coop at the same time every night
Yes, it’s really that simple. Once your chickens get their bearings, they will go back home on their own accord. It doesn’t hurt to feed them, in their coop, at the end of the day (treats or whatnot) to give them an extra incentive. "
************************************************** ***********************************

Ring the Dinner Bell
This, of course, is a metaphor for calling your chickens home for treats and meals. You can use bells, or your own voice to associate with goodies, so your chickens eventually come running 100-miles an hour to see what’s for supper.

This works best if you ALWAYS give feed in the coop because if you just sprinkle it around and try to urge them into the coop, they will see what you are up to and outsmart you.

It doesn’t take long for chickens to learn that the same sound (or command) every day means food. They have much better hearing capabilities than humans. So, if not everyone is tucked in, and you want to get to bed, you can start treat-training your chickens paired with sounds.

So here’s how to do it:

At the end of the day, when your chickens are heading to the roost, use your command and present feed (or treats) inside their coop.
Do this every day until all you have to do it sound the alarm (your command) and your chickens run straight into the coop.
************************************************** **********************************

Remember, this advice is taken from the following link
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/...to-their-coop/




This advice seemed to work for us. The chickens seemed to be especially fond of dried mealworms as a treat.
One more thing.....keep an eye out for ANY (owned or feral) cats on your property. Nothing worse than having somebody's "precious little pookie" ripping apart one of YOUR birds. I don't buy that its only "natural"....its irresponsible pet owners.

[MechAndy]

Too funny beckerd2,
I actually spend time on chicken forums .

As mentioned earlier we keep 4 hens (in CA).
I am thinking about increasing this number to allow for loss at our retirement house.
Not really looking for a bunch more eggs but I’d hate to get hit by a predator.
We gives eggs away with our 4 hens.
No doubt we will be giving more away.
A small flock is less work and that is fine by me.
I’m just going to have to learn the area better.