Feral chickens

[Fox66]

My neighbor had gotten 5 chickens (2 Roos, 3 hens) from someone and brought them to me last night. I set up my dog kennel (I've used this multiple times for chickens with no issues) as a temporary quarantine area before adding them to my flock. The problem is I found out these chickens were feral and they have escaped the dog kennel. They took off into my woods. I know they are still there from the constant crowing. I don’t want them to start breeding and becoming a problem or to cause my flock any issues. How do I recapture them and is there a way to tame them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

More than likely they will get eaten. You could search for them at night with a flashlight. I doubt if you will catch them in the daylight. Where are you located? Somewhere colder, they won't survive the winter, and thus won't breed.

 

[Biddybot]

By dog kennel, do you mean a big wire crate with a big door? If yes, try setting it up near to where the ferals are hanging out with the door fastened open and start tossing them some grain at a set time every day...late afternoon when they'd be foraging anyway to fill their crops for the night is good. Put the grain in and around the crate at first, then mostly inside. I find that chickens are capable of a high degree of associative learning, and if they're salvageable and inclined to be tame and can see what you're doing and make the connection, they'll learn your routine very quickly and start coming when you call and toss the food...sometimes it only takes three or four repetitions. Walk off at first and leave them be to discover the food and eat--they'll be skittish--and once they're coming reliably, start standing nearby to observe them...they'll let you know with their behavior how close you can come. Once they're okay with you standing nearby and they're going in the crate to eat, it's a simple matter to rig up a rope to close the crate door from afar and trap the birds inside.

I trapped a feral guinea rooster that was living in a bit of undeveloped land right behind a city church in the midst of a bunch of subdivisions and right next to a major highway rotary, of all places, using much this same method. The only difference is that I used two wire crates set next to each other and 'baited' one of them with a pair of my tame guineas. No response at first, then I removed Al, the tame male, and the missus left behind soon got lonely and started up with that 'buckwheat' call they do. Less than a minute later, the feral came rocketing out of some underbrush and began trying to get in at the female. Before long, he climbed into the empty crate in his frenzied efforts, I pulled the string I'd attached to that crate door, and voila! trapped guinea fowl! The best part was that the nice people who'd got in touch with me about this poor lost guinea living behind their church and who were very worried about what would happen to him with winter coming on, were present to see the whole capture and get up close and personal with the rescued bird afterwards while I was looking him over after pulling him out of the crate. (He was fine, by the way, just skinny from not having had much to eat for a while.) Anyway, the crate method, though primitive, can work well if you can entice what you want to catch inside and have a decent sense of timing as to when you pull the door shut.

 

[centrarchid]

Current picture of these chickens please.

 

[Fox66]

It’s a 10’ x 10’ kennel with a top. I’m keeping feed and water in it. I saw one of the Roos in there today. So I’m going to reinforce with some chicken wire and I added a tarp today to reinforce the top and cover the gaps. I do have a dog crate and will try to catch them that way If that doesn’t work I’ll try and catch them at night while they roost hopefully I won’t have to do that I have a acre of woods I would have to search.

More than likely they will get eaten. You could search for them at night with a flashlight. I doubt if you will catch them in the daylight. Where are you located? Somewhere colder, they won't survive the winter, and thus won't breed.

m in South Carolina pretty mild winters.

My neighbor had gotten 5 chickens (2 Roos, 3 hens) from someone and brought them to me last night. I set up my dog kennel (I've used this multiple times for chickens with no issues) as a temporary quarantine area before adding them to my flock. The problem is I found out these chickens were feral and they have escaped the dog kennel. They took off into my woods. I know they are still there from the constant crowing. I don’t want them to start breeding and becoming a problem or to cause my flock any issues. How do I recapture them and is there a way to tame them.

More than likely they will get eaten. You could search for them at night with a flashlight. I doubt if you will catch them in the daylight. Where are you located? Somewhere colder, they won't survive the winter, and thus won't breed.

I live in South Carolina the winters are mild so I’m not worried about the cold. They roosted in the trees last night. They keep foraging in my

By dog kennel, do you mean a big wire crate with a big door? If yes, try setting it up near to where the ferals are hanging out with the door fastened open and start tossing them some grain at a set time every day...late afternoon when they'd be foraging anyway to fill their crops for the night is good. Put the grain in and around the crate at first, then mostly inside. I find that chickens are capable of a high degree of associative learning, and if they're salvageable and inclined to be tame and can see what you're doing and make the connection, they'll learn your routine very quickly and start coming when you call and toss the food...sometimes it only takes three or four repetitions. Walk off at first and leave them be to discover the food and eat--they'll be skittish--and once they're coming reliably, start standing nearby to observe them...they'll let you know with their behavior how close you can come. Once they're okay with you standing nearby and they're going in the crate to eat, it's a simple matter to rig up a rope to close the crate door from afar and trap the birds inside.

I trapped a feral guinea rooster that was living in a bit of undeveloped land right behind a city church in the midst of a bunch of subdivisions and right next to a major highway rotary, of all places, using much this same method. The only difference is that I used two wire crates set next to each other and 'baited' one of them with a pair of my tame guineas. No response at first, then I removed Al, the tame male, and the missus left behind soon got lonely and started up with that 'buckwheat' call they do. Less than a minute later, the feral came rocketing out of some underbrush and began trying to get in at the female. Before long, he climbed into the empty crate in his frenzied efforts, I pulled the string I'd attached to that crate door, and voila! trapped guinea fowl! The best part was that the nice people who'd got in touch with me about this poor lost guinea living behind their church and who were very worried about what would happen to him with winter coming on, were present to see the whole capture and get up close and personal with the rescued bird afterwards while I was looking him over after pulling him out of the crate. (He was fine, by the way, just skinny from not having had much to eat for a while.) Anyway, the crate method, though primitive, can work well if you can entice what you want to catch inside and have a decent sense of timing as to when you pull the door shut.