catching a chicken?

[vtsarahb]

I've got a few young pullets that went outside for the first time the other day- and one ameraucana decided that she's not coming back to the coop. Don't think she knows where home is yet. Anyway, she's still hanging around though- I see her a few times a day, darting around under the bushes by my garage. She won't let me get anywhere close to her, so using a hook or a net to catch her is out of the question. I set a couple of traps for her (basically a box propped up precariously by a stick, with some food underneath it and a tripwire)... but I'm skeptical that this will work. Anyone have any brilliant ideas? Would be VERY much appreciated!

 

[Mahonri]

Watch her close in the evening... see where she roosts and then use a hook wire for her feet if you can't reach her.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...she's gotta sleep sometime. Watch where she roosts and just pluck her off the roost...chickens cannot see well after dark.

Also? You could place their food and water in the coop and wait until she wants to eat...she will get hungry and thirsty eventually.

 

[NC29mom]

I made ours stay in the coop for a few months before I EVER let them out. And then, we would let them out 30min before dusk and 3 of us would stay around (kind of making a circle) supervising them. Thanks to our good ole rooster, Rocky, we never had a problem with them going back in the coop. After supervising them for a month, we let them out to free range every afternoon at say 3:00, and they would go in theirselves at night (of course we would check and shut the coop door after they all went in). Now we are to the point, I let them out first thing in the AM and they stay out all day. THey just LOVE IT!~ The hens return to the cooop to lay their eggs.

How long had she stayed in the coop before you let her out? Is she laying yet? IF so, obviously she's not returning to the coop to lay her eggs. Hmmmmmmm, does she have a favorite treat?

IF all else fails, wait until dark. Watch and see where she will be sleeping. Once she's asleep, you should be able to walk right up to her and grab her. Chickens are completely out of it when they are asleep in the dark. That's what I would do.

Then I wouldn't let her out again unless I was supervising her or trusted her again.

BEST OF LUCK!

 

[vtsarahb]

thanks for the advice- I will try to see where she roosts, but the woods/bushes she's hiding in are VERY dense and she's tough to follow. I'll give it a try though!

She is 3 months old, and has been in the "baby coop" the entire time. I guess that first taste of freedom was just too much for her! If I catch her, she's going on lockdown for a good long while, I'll tell you what!

 

[vtsarahb]

We caught her!!!!

DH made a trap out of our strawberry cage (with cracked corn inside), and I waited in the garage until she went for it... pulled the string and the door went down, and that was that! Soooo glad we caught her, because it would have been impossible to follow her through all that brush and see where she was roosting. Now I know she's safe, and has plenty of food & water. She's a beautiful bird- woulda been a shame to lose her! She's not going back outside for a good long while now!

 

[Anguissette]

I can just see ya'll lurking waiting to pull that string like in a cartoon! Awesome!

 

[sharol]

Glad you caught her without problems. We have so many natural predators (and my 3 dogs and 1 cat) that being at large overnight would be a death sentence.

I'm wrestling with a decision about when to let my 5 week olds out of their run. It isn't really big enough to confine them 24/7, but they are too little to be safe from my cat (or 2 of the 3 dogs), so they will have to wait until they are closer to full sized (they are all LF). Even then there is a bit of a risk from one of the dogs. My plan is to confine the dogs to a part of the yard, and let the chickens range on the rest of it for several hours a day, but if they fly over into the dog area, all bets are off. If they get out of the yard, there are coyotes and racoons around, too, so it isn't too safe out there in the big world for little chickens.