Someones chickens have escaped and are running loose on my property. They are eating the cat food, the dog food, the duck food and everything else in sight. I love animals but I do not want 40 chickens roosting on my fences, porch and everywhere else.But I need some advice on how to catch these buggars! The run very fast and are sneaky too. I have someone who will take them IF I can capture them. Any advice will be appreciated!
help! How do I capture renegade chickens???
The best way is at night watch where they go to roost and catch them then.
If you can get to where they roost that is by far the best approach. They won't move much at all in the dark.
Failing that, I would try to contrapt a chicken trap with something like a semicircle of fencing, catfood and other yummies inside, and bird netting across the top. Opening not too wide or narrow and rigged to drop netting as soon as you can get the chickens inside.
Wonder if there's any safe way to sedate them or make them sleepy enough to catch when humans can see? Probably no safe way to dose 'em...
This message was edited Dec 17, 2008 8:07 PM
I am with Harmony. Watch and see where they are roosting. Then put them in crates.
May the Force be with you!
I have a large salmon net that I use for the escapees when I have to catch them before dark.
Nice...where do you get something like that? Any sporting good store?
ooooh. I was having visions of climbing trees with flashlights, but a nice salmon net now...that sounds perfect.
Well, I guess I can call on a few kids with nets to help me with the great "chicken round-up"! I think I will video the whole thing, it could be pretty funny. I can give a prize to the one who catches the most chickens!
And a lot less dangerous! phew! Saved again!
Where do you live again? JK
Maybe you can send it in to Funniest Videos and win!
Now yer talkin'!! I'm picturing the long line of kids hauling nets gradually corralling chickens like some freaky Nat'l Geographic Special... Surely ought to puzzle the birds into submission!!
Well, the chickens will probably go berserk. But I just want them to go away... I am so tired of poultry poop all over my porch! I am determined to catch every last one of them.....
Hey bluebunn you live in Rutledge TN. and i Live in Rutledge Ga. How about that for a coincidence LOL
Try to capture them at dusk they are less flighty then and wanting to roost. But again if you can find where they roost and it's low enough (or have a flashlight and your a good shot and like chicken) night is a good time to shoot catch them.
Possibly. But berserk together is, I think, safer. I would try to have food, water, and a nice dark quiet place for them if you can do it. I try to feed my birds through any shock, on the theory that if they start eating they'll forget all about it!! They're (your invaders) obviously sociable, just don't know the finer points of etiquette -like don't poop on the porch!! Let us know how the great round-up goes, please.
Oh. And towels, scissors, and maybe neosporin. Had a rooster get caught in netting once. Didn't do him any great harm. But throwing a towel over his head calmed him right away and we were able to extract him fairly easily. We ended up cutting loose rather than handling too much though, and had to put neosporin on his comb..
Good point Harmony!! Dusk you might have a better chance and still be able to see!!
The Salmon net, is a great tool. Thats also what I use and yes if you can find where they are nesting. It's the least tramatic for the birds, but what ever it takes. We also find the birds wanting to pooh all over the patio and porch. My poor wife is sick of it. Next spring we will be fencing a 150 ft x 75 ft run so my wife can relax without having to constantly clean chicken manure.
Haystack thats the same reason i got shed of my EEs They had 3 acres to take a poo and somehow my porch looked the best place to do it. They also thought my nearby flower patch was the perfect place to take dust baths.
Bluebunn, did you call animal control? Maybe somebody is looking for those darlings. They can pick them up and move them.
Just a thought.
I'm sorry to say, that where I live, there is no such thing as "animal control".
Hi Harm: I'm just not good with initials, so what are EE's Harm? I had to laugh at your coment Harm, about the dust bath in the flowers, Our girls scattter our beauty bark and tear up our plants so bad we now call it ugly bark. I love um but whats up with these darn chickens. LOL. Haystack. Lusting after your Crelle Roo.
EE Easter Egger or Americana
Careful...Ameraucanas have actually been standardized into a breed -barely. So all the stuff that doesn't qualify for any specific breed but still lays odd colored eggs is an EE.
The odd thing is I assume my Ameraucanas are a step above EEs cause they all look alike and have cheek curly things and beards....but I doubt they are real Ameraucanas. Also confusing, because in Europe, Araucanas can have tails--while here they are not suppose to--but the original stock from South America did have both forms and you seem to need some tailedness for fertility.
If it's got a tail it's not show quality, but may be used for breeding to strengthen a line. I'm not sure the breeders really know. lol. the more I read about it the less difference there seems to be!
I don't know spit about EEs but they lay pretty eggs.
okay, today my husband purchased a landing net. Now we will put up a temporary "holding pen" to pop them into after we catch them. It's a shame they are so much trouble, some of them are quite beautiful and I've even grown a little fond of their craziness. But I just don't have the energy to take on more critters.
Good luck to you! A little Kit-n-Caboodle in the holding pen and you just might luck out!
What are you going to do with them Blue?
I have a few poultry loving pals who are taking them in. I am not so sure they want the roosters though.... there are 7 young roosters, yikes! They crow all day long. I am keeping two of the little banty hens as I have grown very fond of them and they can move into my sheep barn; they are sweet little things.
hope all goes well. I got my salmon net when we lived in Alaska. Guess you could get one at a sporting goods store.
I have a net I got at a garage sale like a hundred years ago..
I use it as an extra "arm" when attempting to "herd" them back in.. I have a roo who is nearly blind and is VERY hard to coax him back in the coop...
Once I used it when I was attempting to separate a couple of Roos.. One flew right over my head and the other ran straight in the net and got tangled.. his comb got bloody... NOT what I expected.. but the net works I can say that!!