I've seen the relocation posts about moving chickens 1 or 2 hours away. However, I'm potentially facing a much farther move.. more along the lines of 3000 miles. I'm already facing the fact that I will probably have to find homes for my ducks, turkeys and pigs. However, the thought of losing my chickens is more than I can even comprehend. I'm willing to do it though, it it's in their best interest. Would it be terribly cruel to transport them that far? I already brought my cockatoos, dogs and DH 2300 miles in a PT cruiser. I don't see why I couldn't do the same for chickens.. in a miniva min.. Never mind the vehicle, well, you get the idea.
Rent a truck and a livestock trailer! Take everyone! Course the time of year sucks, so anyone small will need to be in the van. Depends on if you have your destination planned already for the arrival of animals. It's totally do-able though, depending on the number of birds. But it will be best to have only living creatures in the vehicle, and the DH and non-living items in the rented truck. Motel 6 will allow most any animal for a deposit... I've heard of Lions even. But I stay with them when driving with the dogs, since they don't care how hairy they are and they love the fact that I travel with crates. Doesn't say much for the human comfort of the rooms... I think they save the worse rooms for pet owners. But hey, the chickens won't freeze in the car overnight! The easiest 3,000 mile move so far has been when we all flew. Boy were the dogs happy to see me in Baggage claim though!
Just a quick word of advice- do not put live animals in the back of a U-Haul moving truck/box truck. I helped a friend move years ago and had the dubious pleasure of riding in the back of one of those trucks for about 20 minutes. The exhaust leaking into the back of the truck darned near killed me. A livestock trailer would be ideal. A van with crates to contain everyone runs a close second. Good luck.
If this goes.. and I hope it does, we would be moving from the Puget Sound area to Charleston SC. Driving and distance doesn't bother me or DH, we used to drive OTR. Actually, when we moved from Michigan to Washington last year, it was me, him, 2 parrots, a hamster and 2 poodles crammed into the PT cruiser. A U Haul would be out anyway most likely, my company would pay for a moving company to take our belongings. Although if the PT isn't running by then, I would likely rent a U Haul and a car trailer, since it needs a tranny, it's kind of an expensive fix Then I could pack our bags into the PT, the animals into the van, and ship my truck. My head is starting to hurt just thinking about it. I know I would have to downsize my flock, but I would do that by hopefully finding homes with other BYC members. The current count is 29, but about 10 are Roos, and I don't want that many, I would be happy keeping my leghorns and my phoenixes. I don't think I would want to try to move my turkeys, I'm pretty sure I have good bycers who would take the ducks, and I want to find a new home for the pigs anyway, they drive me nuts. They whine more than my darn kids. I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row as soon as possible. The way it sounds at this point, the job is mine if I want it and if my manager agrees. I just hope they wait till after the holidays.
I would take them all . Stop every so often to let them range maybe in a make shift pen . I moved years ago from Tx to California and came back to Tx the same way did not lose one .I had them in a dog pen in the back of my truck ,
