bloody disobedient chickens wont go to bed

[Amphibimum]

my pampered chickens have total freedom to roam wherever they please all day long, which is great. lovely. just the way i want it.
however
up to now i have been able to shut them all back in the run at about dc-bathtime (7pm-ish) by chucking some corn mix into the run and closing the gate after them.
for the last few nights though, i have gone out , called them, they come running, but arent impressed with the corn and dont go in. takes ages to coax them all in. last night i had to give up altogether and go back when it was dark.
i dont want to have to leave it so late as there are foxes living in the fields either side of us. not that we've had any visits thus far, but be daft to ignore the risk i reckon.

any suggestions?

Give them something they like better than corn. Grated cheese is a big favourite with mine.
Mine are totally free ranging too but are all back in their house by about 5pm even with the light evenings

I recommend the rapid return method.

ooh oggs, dyou think we could swap?
grated cheese? never occured to me..

i have, as it happens, recently started giving them kitchen scrap treats - well, have done it twice... and i figure this may be the cause of the sudden dissent. bloody uppity birds

what, prey tell, is the rapid return method?

get a cockerel!
ours is like a seargant major and gets them all in (in pecking order - boss girl first, lowest of the low last) by dusk.
Or treats, like the others have said. But vary it every night, keep them on their toes claws. Use anything you have spare in the kitchen (within reason). Mine love the scrapings at the end of a tin of sardines (and it is very good for them).

you made it up didnt you? i hope not coz it sounds great

what, about the cockerel? No, no, tis true. Plus he will keep watch over them when roaming and make one hell of a fuss if he spots any predators and herds them to safety. Honest! He has a special clucking noise for that and they move fast as lightening to the nearest bush. His noise then sets the dog off, who starts barking, and then we come rushing over to wave our arms or chase anything off.

We're sane around here despite how it sounds!!

I didn't realise you don't have a cockerel. I have 2 at the moment, and agree that they are the ones who chivvy everyone back to the house.
They make a special clucky noise when I feed them a treat calling the hens over saving the best bits for them

ooh, cockerel does sound good actually... i thought they were troublesome noisy things... but they sound v useful actually hmmmmm

am loving the mental picture of you all running about the farmyard waving hands in the air in your wellies and nighties, whooping at imaginary predators

cockerals sound like real gentleman perhaps I should get dh to learn a few tips......

Cockerels are great for rounding up the hens - though mine does tend to limit the distance he lets the hens free-range and he doesn't benefit from the freedom himself as he's on constant rounding-up and look-out duty!

Otherwise he is bloody noisy, has trodden two of the hens bald and he's even gone for me with his spurs out (so I picked him up and gave him a big cuddle, he was mortified and hasn't been aggressive since)!

Agree with varying the evening treats - sweetcorn, rice, pasta etc. And try banging a spoon on the saucepan/collander when you call for them, they'll associate the noise with feeding-time and they can hear it for miles so you don't have to go traipsing about looking for them. Good luck!

Cockerels are great, they also sort out any squabbling between the girls and make sure none are getting bullied

ah, the not so attractive side of cockerel keeping eh? what are spurs? i like fighting aggression with love, good one.

yes, i am planning to give them leftover corn cobs and breaded cod from the kids' lunch tonight - will that be ok?

i have no trouble calling them btw, i clap loudly and, um, have a song made up by my 2yo i sing loudly. they hear and know its treat time... i just cant seem to get them in the run is all.
i have fingers crossed that the leftovers will do it tho, thx for all your help.

would it be wrong to have 2 cockerels? or should there really only be one?

There should only be one . The second is a houdini who made a mad and successful dash for freedom when we were killing last years cockerels and we've not got round to killing him yet. He's not top cock but they don't fight so he's been spared thus far.
We do have three poor hens who are featherless on their backs - the buff orpington and her offspring are the most susceptible.
Have never got up the nerve to file their spurs down. Has anyone else done this?

Have a new batch of chicks (don't know how many yet as haven't been able to count) and I'm hoping they won't mostly be cockerels this year.

ooh admire the rearing of own... have been leafing through Practical Poultry with ds1 and have to say it looks all a bit... complicated.
would be lovely tho i guess. may build up to that.

btw, stupid question maybe but is a bantam cockerel ok with a bunch of normal sized hens?

Complicated in what way? It's the chickens that do all the work - all I do is provide the food .
Not sure about banty cockerel with large hens. Won't he need a step-ladder to get on them?

Are you giving them your kitchen scraps in the afternoon? We have to be careful not to give ours any scraps or treats after midday or they're not hungry enough to come in for their supper.

ah!
a breakthrough
had 3 half corncobs, only partially and unenthusiastically nibbled by dc at lunchtime ready to take out... went out at 6.45 and did the calling them thing... they all came running for treats.

and heres the good (but accidental) bit; ds1 had closed the door of the run at some point in the hour or two before this, so they had no access to their food and water. they must have all been trying to get at it coz thats where they all came running from. so i opened up, chucked in the cobs, and they all went in without a fuss.

hurrah.

case cracked.

re chicks and complicatedness; theres an article in aforementioned mag with pictures and diagrams of how to make brooding pens and how important it is that they have NO breeze/drafts and the lights to use and all that can go wrong with hens brought on too quickly (with rather graphic photo of prolapsed vent on formerly eggbound hen)... just made me think; ok, maybe not.

but id love to do it if it is actually easy, so do please enlighten me if im wrong!

takver - yes, i did think that i was scuppering my chances of luring them with treats by giving said treats freely in afternoon. doh!

not any more, am wise to it now. thanks

We have hatched chicks (and ducklings) under broody hen in very, very basic pen attached to the main henhouse. No lights, just a box with a covered run attached.
The main things to avoid seem to be putting too many eggs under the hen, otherwise she can't keep all the chicks warm underneath her, and also letting them outside to free range too soon.
We have only ever had 2 or 3 hatch, so no problem with too many chicks (but a friend has), but we have lost chicks to buzzards when they first left their enclosed run.

I just basically leave them to get on with it. I do have a spare ark attached to a 30'x20'ish run. When they go broody and start sitting on eggs I move the hen and eggs to this ark.
They are usually sitting on about 10 or so eggs.
Primrose was unsuccessful last month and I had to take her off the eggs after almost 4 weeeks she wasn't happy but settled back with the others. Meanwhile Custard had gone broody and we moved her and her eggs in. Yesterday there were chicks .
I'm off to let her out this morning and I'll count then. To start with they only get the very small run attached to the ark itself. When they are bigger they will have access to the big run. It's easier then just to let the females out to be with the main lot, and keep the cockerels in there for fattening.

oh ok, i like the sound of that! i'll need a spare ark then... think i saw a cheapy one going at the local feed merchants for about 60 quid... hmmm.
not sure any of mine are the broody sort. might have to get more

Four eggs not hatched, one dead flattened chick and five live 'uns .
They all look healthy and are feeding (grated egg/cheese and weetabix).
Have removed unhatched eggs and squished chick and freshened the straw.

eek to flat deadun, but ahhhhhh at the five little live ones.
oh i wanna do it now!