To be successful at this game you need to get your chickens trained to come to you when you call. This involves out and out bribery and a chicken can ONLY be bribed with foodie treats. So find out what treats they like and, when your chickens are in their first few weeks of residence, dish the treats out liberally whenever you call them. Your chickens will soon realise that the call means foodie treats. We use meal worms, we have friends that use corn. Your chickens will soon learn that you dish out the foodie treats and will come running when you call.
Please note that your chickens will also quickly learn where the foodie treats are kept and are on heightened alert if you go near the treat store. It is not unheard of for them to attempt a raid so make sure the treats are safely out of reach or in a bin with a lid!
Equipment
- A bucket of foodie treats, if well trained any food will do.
Aim of the game:
The only aim is to get your chickens to follow you. We use this game the most when it is time to get them back in the run after some quality free ranging. It is less effective if they have made a sneaky break for freedom and their aim was not just to get a few tasty treats!
Rules
- When the chickens have reached their destination, the run, make sure you shut the door before they grab the foodie treat and make a break for it.
- If some of the flock do not want to play Follow the leader, proceed with the ones you have then play chicken herding and/or chicken divining to gather in the rest.
How to play
- Call your chickens and show them the foodie treat and wait for a crowd to assemble, we shake the bucket of Meal worms, it works most of the time. If the crowd is smaller than anticipated, one or more of the flock have resorted to playing Hide and Seek. Either dish out a small amount of treat to reward those that came and in the process entice the tardy ones, or continue without them.
- Walk steadily towards your destination – the run
- If the chickens are not following you, call them again
- When you near the run, throw a handful of your chosen treat in and stand back, you might get in the way when they all scramble to be first to get the treat.
- All out war may ensue until all the foodie treat has disappeared.
Winner
You are the winner when you get all your chickens to your intended destination, usually back in the run with the door closed. If you are not successful you lose - resort to Chicken Herding.