dealing with stress, and catching chickens

[chicknmania]

That's something else we might try, with the ball. We caught Dazzle (the renegade roo) in the trap this morning, and also one hen. Four hens remain. We threw a blanket over most of the cage containing Dazzle and two hens; it was amazing the way he settled down immediately and concentrated on soothing the hens. The loose hens don't know what to do without him so they are clustered around his cage; (we think they're plotting on how to get him out of there!)anyway, we're hoping they'll roost lower down tonight in order to be closer to him.

 

[FrankBlissett]

Ivan - good idea. It's now stored in the old memory till I encounter a similar problem to that posted!

We have a few banties who roost in the rafters and they occassionally get caught in the live-catch racoon trap before I get up and around in the morning to put it away. Don't know that I'd count on it working when you want it to though.

-Frank

 

[ivan3]

Frank, I suppose a gallon water/milk jug would work, as well (punch a hole in bottom and run the rope through). We just had the ball lying in the yard where the kid's had left it. I would think that anything they couldn't step over would work (now, removing turkeys from the chimney during a thunderstorm is a little trickier).

Take care,
John

 

[abbiejane7]

I have never vaccinated my chickens but I know anytime I need to catch one I get them inside the pen and have a large towel of piece of cloth. I " Hem" them up in a corner, if possible and throw the towel around them, especially over their head. This will immediately quiet them.

Good luck !

abbiejane7

 

[chicknmania]

TADA! WE FINALLY CAUGHT THE LAST ONE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON!!! This after Dazzle and his hens (that we thought we had securely confined) broke out one final time after dark....I went out and bought a brand new rabbit cage, and we took blankets, nets, and all hands on deck out there and just caught them by cornering and etc. Then we put them in the rabbit cage, placed the rabbit cage on a table far off the floor, latched and chained the door, covered it with a blanket for warmth and quiet. It worked. I think they just wanted to get out of the cage so they could roost as high as possible; elevating the cage may have helped, although they had a low roost in the other pen. Go figure that today (the bitter coldest day of the year so far) is the day we are vaccinating them! Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Congrats on capturing the renegade beasts! LOL

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you! Some may think this is crazy, but in reference to the stress issue, after much debate we decided to release all our healthy ones (all but three) after we did the vaccination, even though we have to repeat it in six weeks or so. We decided they would be happier and healthier in their normal environment, which is our main goal, to get and keep them well. It was worth it, too, because as we released each one, (some were in separate pens and hadn't seen each other for a while) they would run to the other pens and each other, talking and crowing. It was a huge party for them! Fun to watch. This morning, despite the cold, all roos were crowing!

 

[SandraChick]

You've already gotten several good suggestions, here are a few more to think about.

My head lamp has a red plastic cover that makes the light a red color. It's enough for us humans to see by--but the chickens don't seems to notice that light. I've used it to catch them in their coop and they don't budge like they do with the regular light.

I don't know how big or complicated your barn is, but you might try finding a way to keep them from roosting so high, with netting or something.... I visualize that your barn is too big for this, but just in case it's not, I thought I 'd mention it.

Also, I wouldn't worry about not catching them all at once in your trap. Keeping at it, and getting even one at a time would get the job done eventually.

For the hens you could also try checking their nesting boxes throughout the day. You might find one in the middle of lay and catch her that way.

Good luck
Sandra