How to catch a chicken that won't let me anywhere near her? Need to treat for vent gleet

[Back2Roots]

I am new to chicken keeping and I have a chicken that has developed a bad case of what appears to be vent gleet, so I need to be able to catch her in order to give her an epsom salt bath soak and clean her up. The problem is that she won't let me anywhere near her - she's afraid of me. The others will come when I shake the treat container, but she doesn't come near where I drop the treats until I've moved well away. I have tried to come up behind her and reach down to pick her up, but she is very quick, and I think I just wind up scaring her more by chasing her.
Would dropping a towel over and then picking her up work?
What about taking her off the roost in the morning? I don't think the evening would be optimal because she will need a 15-20 minute soak followed by some feather trimming and a 15 minute blow dry (she's a silkie, so I imagine she will take awhile to dry). I can't let her go to bed still damp because I think that's just asking for respiratory complications.
Any suggestions?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The easy way to catch a chicken like that is when they are asleep. Personally I would not worry about sending her to bed wet. Mine play in the rain and go to bed soaking wet without benefit of blow-dry. But since you are concerned catch her at night and put her in a cage so you can get her the next day.

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[suzannevans]

Throwing a towel or getting her off the roosts in the morning sounds like a good option, you would probably have to get her pretty early to catch her before she's awake good. I grab the fishing net, that seems to work the best for me. I have also heard of others using a wire hanger.

 

[Back2Roots]

Quote:
Thanks much for the tips. The "cage overnight and treat in the morning" idea would work if I had the time before going to work, but I leave the house at 6:20 to catch my bus, so I wouldn't really have time to treat in the morning. If you think it would be okay to leave her damp, maybe I could treat her at night, towel dry her, keep her inside and put her back in the coop in the morning ... that could work ...

 

[Back2Roots]

Quote:
Good point - you're right; I didn't really think that option through. I would have to get up WAY too early. :-| I don't have a fishing net or hook, and even if I did, I have no experience with netting birds; I don't want to risk bungling it and injuring her. I think I'll go with picking her up off the roost at night, treating her, and leaving her to dry overnight in the laundry room. Thanks for the suggestion, though.