Baby out of the coop and now I can't catch her!

[Stonerowfarm]

One of my mille fleur's hatched out a single chick. She got so excited that she had a baby she abandoned the other eggs. Well, things have been going great for the last two weeks - until today. The little tractor they are in had to be separated when the two roos decided they hated each other and kept trying to fight to the death. On the front is a ramp door and on the back is a large, higher door. Of course, the baby, momma and dad are in the back half of the tractor. So baby flew out and can't fly back in. I just went out to try to grab it, of course EVERYONE freaked out, baby ran into through the fence into the overgrowth. At this point I backed off and let baby get back in with her momma. However the problem still remains, how do I get baby back inside. Any suggestions?

 

[Ravishaw]

keep an eyeball on the baby. dark always calms these critters down.

 

[birdlover]

Either what the other poster said or get yourself 3 or 4 people to help you corral it. When I needed to catch a chicken, I had a portable dog pen that I fixed so it was open on one side and the rest was shaped like a corral. I would get the chicken to run in and quickly close it up. Worked like a charm several times. Good luck!

 

[Stonerowfarm]

Unfortunately I'm alone this evening. No matter what way I go, the baby goes the other way - of course. The last round about she ran to the other end of the run, went right through the fence and surprise surprise, daddy roo flew straight out after her. She walked back in but he was left on the wrong side of the fence. Only took him a matter of seconds before he forgot all about the baby and started fighting with the other roo.

I put up a ramp make of hardware cloth so the baby can try to get her footing. When I went out to check a little bit ago the baby was 3/4 the way up and then chickened out (pun intended). I'm letting her give it another go without me standing their watching.

 

[rdport]

If the ramp doesn't work, we have found that a garden hose and water really works well to "herd" chickens. They don't become afraid of you, and they will just about always go where you want them to go. So maybe you can herd the chick into a secure place until night or a place where you can catch it.

 

[savila009]

Maybe you can try a fishing net or a pool cleaning net