[Kuikentje]

Quickly, I mean?

MY 5 bantams have a 2m x 3m 'home' run, a part of this is taken up with their coop. They are perfectly happy here, but it's not enough, so they have a 6' x 3' moveable run so they can have fresh ground every day or two. But I have to get them out of the home run into the moveable one, and catching them before I go to work isn't going to be an option. It's quite difficult to get round behind the coop as there are just a few inches between it and the garden fence - no room for me to get in.

I can give them a couple of hours in the moveable run in the evening, although I don't get home till seven on two days and clearly this won't be possible in the winter when it's dark before I get home.

Any suggestions? This cannot be a unique problem.

Thank you.

[New shoot]

Mine are trained to the rattle of the mealworm bag - the dried ones you buy for wild birds.  If you offer a few each day (only very few, as they are high in fat), your birds will soon come running at the sound.

I can lead mine round the garden with the magic mealworm bag 

[chickadee11]

Mealworms work for me too, they catch on very quickly!

[Prod]

Mine free range over a large area  so when the corn tin doesn't work I use a large fishing net!!!!

[8doubles]

Mine free range over a large area  so when the corn tin doesn't work I use a large fishing net!!!!

I have tried the range of fishing nets and found a childs pond/ butterfly net to be far superior!
Being small and light it is very maneuverable and gets even the tricksiest hen !
After a couple of nettings said hen will often get a glimpse of the net and head for home!

The corn/ mealworm tin method is less stressful all round !

[Beetroot queen]

Two of the kids old hockey sticks lol makes your arms even longer and that seems to work.

[ANHBUC]

Two of the kids old hockey sticks lol makes your arms even longer and that seems to work.

I have bamboo canes all over the garden to use the same way.  I also keep their mixed corn in a clear plastic Quality Street container.  I don't have to rattle it, just walk to where it is kept and they nearly mow each other over to get to me first.       My cockerel has leant on a night when the container comes out it is time for him to go in his own pen and coop.   

[Elvira]

Mine free range over a large area  so when the corn tin doesn't work I use a large fishing net!!!!

Exactly what I was going to say! 

[grinling]

My concern is shade provided in this area, somewhere for the chickens to hide if a predator is nearby, though I presume you have water and food in this run as well.
If your garden/ area have not a fox/stoat area, you could rig up a temporary outdoor run using bamboo canes and chicken wire attached to the main run area.
 I train mine to the shake of mixed corn in an ice cream tub, which is thrown into the main run area when the chickens run up to me and then lock them in.

[Kuikentje]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Grinling, I have considered the shade thing, and shelter from rain - I have stretched a tarp across the bottom third of the run, which is in any case shaded by the house for most of the afternoon.  There's a cardboard box on its side, too, in case they want to feel a bit more secure. 

It's in the morning that there will be a problem - when I'm in a hurry for work and I open the pop-hole and they all run round their home pen (it and the coop are fixed).  Evenings should be ok - we've made the gate on the top of the day run so I can step or reach into it.
But I did have a brainwave today.      Get the day run ready tonight.  Then in the morning, instead of foolishly opening the pop-hole, lean into the coop, pick a chicken, and transfer to the day run, first closing the roof of the coop.    Repeat four times.

Still on a big learning curve.  Eventually, like with everything else, I will get into a routine.  In the meantime I will continue to pick everybody's brains.

[themagicaltoad1]

How far from your base run is the extra run? what about using one of those polytunnels to join the two? they come in 3 metre lengths and just peg into the ground. Chickens are very curious it shouldn't take them long to work out it leads to another area.

[Kuikentje]

How far from your base run is the extra run? what about using one of those polytunnels to join the two? they come in 3 metre lengths and just peg into the ground. Chickens are very curious it shouldn't take them long to work out it leads to another area.

This would work if we had a flat garden.  The day run will be moved about and may or may not be on the same level - but it wouldn't ever be near enough to the home run to make use of the tunnel idea, plus if it's at the top end of the garden it's up two steps.

Using mealworms as bait and dropping a light fishing net over them may end up being the method of choice until we all know and trust each other a bit better.

[Sassy]

Unfortunately the fishing net is going to make them distrust you There is always a way and when you think of it you will wonder why it did not occur to you in the first place. That is how it works for me anyway! It will work out

[8doubles]

Have you got them feeding from the palm of your hand yet ? ! give each hen half a dozen grains of maize, top of  the pecking order first then 2-3 etc.
Just a clenched fist that might have food in it is enough to get them following .

Also have a 'treats call' when you have something good for them.

"Chook Chook" gets them running for me ! 
 

[Kuikentje]

I bought a 99p child's fishing net from B&M as an emergency standby.

Obviously the trust thing will be preferable, and they didn't take long to learn the rattle of the mealworms.  I still have to work out how to get them to let me just pick them up to move them from the day run to the home run.(thanks for all the suggestions, but this is going to have to be the method until I can trust them just to walk from the one to the other, when I lift it up).

I think - for my peace of mind - I will have to clip their wings until they moult, so that I won't be worrying about them flying up onto the garden fence and beyond, until I know they will follow me home at bedtime.  Once they are settled I  would hope to leave their wings alone.  The posture of the Dutch Bantam, with its down-pointing wings, is one of the attractive things about them, and I don't want to spoil their looks.  Unfortunately it is these lovely wings that make it one of the better flyers, the only reservation I had about choosing this breed.