Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[Chicken Kitty]

Well I am pleased to say that our girls seem to have settled in beautifully!

They now have names - Violet, Clover and Marigold, we are getting to know their personalities and they are much less timid of us.......especially when we have mealworms on offer!

I am now thinking ahead to when we let them free range for the first time.......I have no idea how they will react! Will they instantly try to escape?.....Or will they be happy to just explore the garden? (I have to say they are pretty chilled out girls so far)......Will they avoid going back into the run after?.....Obviously I know all chickens are different so we'll just have to wait and see, but I wondered if anyone had any top tips for our first time?

[mollyripkim]

When I let my girls out at first we did in at the end of the day thinking they would naturally go back to house to roost which sort of worked! Flo who is a bit dopey couldn't get the hang of it and would run around in a panic so it took hubby and I herding her in which of course just made her panic more.

In fact it didn't take long as they were used to treats so a handful of mealworms in the run is failsafe now.

It's lovely to see them FR and gradually explore more of the garden.

[Sam]

I let mine out of their run after 5 days. I'd recommend doing it about half an hour before they go to bed, so I'd let them out about 9pm. They'd probably just scratch about for a while and end up following you around the garden, and once they're tired they should go back to bed Oh, and make sure you cover up vegetables and plants you want to survive

[beach chick]

if you get them used to a 'treat bowl' that will usually bring them running back to home. ideally, only give their treats in the run you want them to be in and then they'll head home. failing that, invest in a fishing net!!

[Minnie&Moose]

The 'treats' signal works for us every time! I've 'trained' all our chickens & cats to come to a particular noice - I use a tongue click having worked with horses in my youth. I just have to give the signal and they all come running from wherever. It also means that if we appear in the garden but don't call them the chickens don't automatically assume we're coming to feed them, so they don't mob us for treats all the time.

[LunaKiw1]

Ours recognise the 'chink' of something tasty going into 'their' special M&S chicken-design cereal bowl and will come running for that and so letting them follow it back into the runs works to get them in. They didn't go mad when first let loose in the garden and have never tried to escape even when we've left the back gate open. They just potter around, destroy the grass, kick leaves everywhere and make dustbaths anywhere and everywhere - it's great watching them! But they also toddle back to the WIR and use their grub and glug or return to to the Eglu to lay.