How do you catch your chickens?

[JumpingRightIn]

My chicks are 7 weeks old and they roam freely in the yard all day and sleep in their coop at night. Sometimes I want to pick one up to take a picture of it and it always ends up in a crazy chicken chase! I'm running after them the whole length of the yard and back again just trying to pick one up! If they're in their coop I'll stand outside their open door hoping to catch one if it comes near me, but they never do. They just wait me out. I could go all the way inside of their coop but then I'd get all of their poop and hay all over my butt. Do you have any tricks to catching your chickens that I can use?

 

[dsfrango]

Rather than chasing and netting you should just handle them more often. If you have to many to provide enough attention to each just pick a couple favorites. If they are pets then they SHOULD be friendly. Chasing them is only enforcing the scared running behavior. Hold them and walk around with them. If they flap turn them upside down for a sec but keep hold. After they relax after like 15 min try setting them down. If they flap and try to run dont let them go. Hold them a bit longer. If they walk calmly then youve made progress. Use snacks like scratch grains, corn, mealworms etc. Eventually you will gain their trust after theyve eaten out of your hand. I have 27 chickens and the only ones that wont willingly allow me to pick them up are the Sumatras(More wild breed) but they will eat out of my hand allowing me to easily grab them. I have Sebrights, D'uccles, Polish, Cochin, RRI. They will all eat right out of my hand therefore I dont need to finagle with nets and hooks. Never even thought about doing it that way.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I have only had one chicken that never cared if we picked her up. Ironically, it was the one that we didn't raise from a a chick. Lucky fell off of a Tyson truck on the way to the slaughter house. She would hop up in our laps and LOVED being petted and picked up. I think it might have been because (unlike the rest of the chickens that we've had) she knew EXACTLY how good she had it. The rest of the chickens we were only able to hold after they've gone to roost or before they were let out for the day.

 

[salt and pepper]

some people use nets and hooks.

 

[JumpingRightIn]

I'm thinking about buying a pool net to try. You know, the one with the long handle?

 

[kuntrygirl]

I use a net with a long handle.

 

[Marthab1953]

I have a long handled Chicken catching net. A long time ago I used to have a long handled hook that worked great on full grown chickens Do not know what ever happened to it. Both work good. I Preferred the hook as it was less stressful on the chickens.

 

[kian]

The dog chases them over and then we lunge and grab. Unless we're trying to catch the NHRs. They just come right to us!

 

[JumpingRightIn]

I have a long handled Chicken catching net. A long time ago I used to have a long handled hook that worked great on full grown chickens Do not know what ever happened to it. Both work good. I Preferred the hook as it was less stressful on the chickens.

Do you know where I could find a hook or net like that?

 

[salt and pepper]

could you maybe make one? like get a metal hanger and a long pole, and wind the two together. but if you do use a net, a pool, or even a large butterfly net should work