Help! Dealing with 2 Coops and Moving Chickens Daily

[amandapancakes]

Hello all -

I work at a school that has taken on chickens. We've had some of them since October and some of them since March. Most of them are pretty tame and used to humans (especially children) handling them.

Our school has two distinct parts - there is the main building and then the other part that is located up the hill. The students who started this chicken project were in the classroom up the hill, so the chickens' permanent coop is also up the hill. We would let them roam in the yard for a good portion of the day while keeping an eye out for pretators. It worked just fine.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, that part of the school on the hill cannot be used for a classroom for a while (construction.. ugh!). The coop is still up there and won't be touched by the construction. However, we are aware that if we want happy chickens, we should not keep them cooped up in the coop all the time. We can't let them out into the normal yard because no one will be up there full time to keep an eye on them.

Knowing this predicament, we purchased a geodesic mobile chicken coop to put in our meadow that is visible from the office. We know that this cannot be a permanent coop for our beloved chickens and so here's the problem:

We are carrying our chickens up and down the hill on an (almost) daily basis (weather permitting). We take them down the hill to the mobile coop in the morning, let them hang out, peck at the grass, eat bugs, etc. Then in the afternoon before the children go home, we bring them back up the hill to the permanent coop.

It's a long and exhausting process. These kids are young (most ages 6 - 9 for the summer. In the fall, the kids handling the chickens will be 9 - 12) and cannot always handle carrying the bigger hens. Some have escaped into the woods and taken up to an hour to catch again. Like I said earlier, they are pretty tame chickens, but this system is far from perfect and we could use some help!

We've considered making a tunnel-like thing to lead from the permanent coop to the mobile coop, but it's just too far. Plus we run the risk of predators finding their way in. We plan to build a permanent coop down the hill eventually, but I'm not sure how far down the road that will be.

I've seen that harnesses for chickens exist. Do those work? I can imagine the chickens probably don't like them very much. I also can imagine that trying to put a harness on a chicken may be more trouble than it's worth. So then I thought, "Why not keep the harnesses on full time?" but that probably isn't a good idea.

So! Here's where you wonderful & helpful people come into play (if you've actually made it to the bottom of this long post!). Does anyone have ANY ideas on how to help us make this process easier for us?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mrs. K]

Well I would ask all of my students if they have a shed or something that could be moved to make a temporary shelter, at the bottom of the hill. It does not have to be grand.

However, I am a teache and in my mind I can see chickens and kids running everywhere! But that is what you need to avoid. No one should try and catch a chicken. They are prey animals and being caught really upset them.

Instead place people so that most of the chickens are between the people and the coop that you want them to go to. It will not matter if this is a long ways awas. It is helpful if at least a few people have a long stick to tap the ground. Spread the people out to make an arc around the chickens but not a tight arc. Have people slowly step forward, until the chickens begin to move away from you, and towards the coop. Once they begin to move the people stand still. When the chickens stop, take a few more steps untill they start to move again. This is a case where slower is faster. As you get closer to the coop, but are still a little ways away, have a single person stand near the coop and shake the feed bucket a few times, and then put some feed inside the coop on the floor. Then move out of the way.

Continue as above, gradually tighteneing the arc around the chickens always leaving the escape toward the coop. The trick is not to alarm the chickens, but just enough pressure that they move toward the coop which equals saftey.

They should go in pretty easily. If a chicken breaks back, one can tap the ground in front of her, and she will return to the flock. If you get most of them in the coop eating, then go back and get any stragglers, and they will want to join the other and you have it done.

I collect my flock like this if I want to lock them up mid day. I can easily single handedly round up a dozen birds.

Mrs k

 

[amandapancakes]

Well I would ask all of my students if they have a shed or something that could be moved to make a temporary shelter, at the bottom of the hill. It does not have to be grand.

However, I am a teache and in my mind I can see chickens and kids running everywhere! But that is what you need to avoid. No one should try and catch a chicken. They are prey animals and being caught really upset them.

Instead place people so that most of the chickens are between the people and the coop that you want them to go to. It will not matter if this is a long ways awas. It is helpful if at least a few people have a long stick to tap the ground. Spread the people out to make an arc around the chickens but not a tight arc. Have people slowly step forward, until the chickens begin to move away from you, and towards the coop. Once they begin to move the people stand still. When the chickens stop, take a few more steps untill they start to move again. This is a case where slower is faster. As you get closer to the coop, but are still a little ways away, have a single person stand near the coop and shake the feed bucket a few times, and then put some feed inside the coop on the floor. Then move out of the way.

Continue as above, gradually tighteneing the arc around the chickens always leaving the escape toward the coop. The trick is not to alarm the chickens, but just enough pressure that they move toward the coop which equals saftey.

They should go in pretty easily. If a chicken breaks back, one can tap the ground in front of her, and she will return to the flock. If you get most of them in the coop eating, then go back and get any stragglers, and they will want to join the other and you have it done.

I collect my flock like this if I want to lock them up mid day. I can easily single handedly round up a dozen birds.

Mrs k

We have tried herding them and it was a disaster. I understand the concept, but getting 6-9 year olds to understand the concept and put it into practice is a different story!

 

[junebuggena]

You can train them to come when called with a few hand fulls of scratch or mealworms. It doesn't take more than a few "training sessions" before they start mobbing you when you call. All I have to do is walk outside and say "Here chick, chick." They all come running to see what treat I've got for them.

 

[donrae]

Does the coop have a run attached? if so, simply let them stay in that. They'll be fine. If not, put your resources into building one. Make it predator proof and you won't have all this hassle.

 

[yellowchicks]

Does the coop have a run attached? if so, simply let them stay in that. They'll be fine. If not, put your resources into building one. Make it predator proof and you won't have all this hassle.

x2

And to answer your question regarding chicken hardness, once you anchor the leash to keep the chicken in one place, it is pretty easy for them to peel off the hardness by pulling away. The chicken hardness/diaper combo is not a solution to keep the chicken in one place.

If you don't have time to build a run just yet, then try to train them to come to you.

I move my chickens from one run to another by shaking a treat bottle that is full of dry meal worms and black oil sun flower seeds. The hear that rattling noise, they will come running from anywhere (well, most of the time except if they find fresh worms elsewhere). Once they come to me, I always award them by letting them eat the treats out of the bottle, then toss a handful into the run and close the door if I want to lock them up. When I train them, I would walk for a short distance while shaking the bottle, let them follow me, then award them with the treats. Each time, I made the distance longer and longer until they will follow me or whoever shakes the jar. This might be fun to let the students make up their own chicken training exercise to see who can get the chickens follow them up and down the hill.

Physically herding or catching the chickens everyday sounds exhausting. Mine would let me pick them up and walk around, but I know most chickens are not so tame.