I would really like to know! And I'm not talking about those slow-moving obese BBWs either -- I'm talking about the flying, athletic, strong-winged heritage breeds. Give us your methods ... I'm tired of getting bruised and banged up from catching my pastured Bourbon Reds! I try to keep it low-stress for them, but gosh it's a tough job. I found zilch on Google.
Here's how we did it this year. Went out after dark, herded the group off the roost (well would've like to have caught them on the roost, but the moon was full and they saw us approaching and panicked and jumped off themselves), and into a smaller round pen (10 foot in diameter, with a roof). The best 'trick' we figured out this year was that if we wore a headlamp (like the kind for camping or biking), the birds were sort of mesmerized by the light and couldn't see us behind the light, and it was easier to get close to them. But, it was still darn hard to catch all of them!! We put each bird into it's own coop (turned sideways) so they have lots of space. Then off to the butcher tommorrow.
Others? How do you do it? Do you have an easier method? Please!
Here's how we did it this year. Went out after dark, herded the group off the roost (well would've like to have caught them on the roost, but the moon was full and they saw us approaching and panicked and jumped off themselves), and into a smaller round pen (10 foot in diameter, with a roof). The best 'trick' we figured out this year was that if we wore a headlamp (like the kind for camping or biking), the birds were sort of mesmerized by the light and couldn't see us behind the light, and it was easier to get close to them. But, it was still darn hard to catch all of them!! We put each bird into it's own coop (turned sideways) so they have lots of space. Then off to the butcher tommorrow.
Others? How do you do it? Do you have an easier method? Please!