How to catch/trap a hen living in the street??? Pls share ideas....

[Dudu]

Dear all,

For about 2 months now there has been a small hen living on a roundabout close to where we live.

The roundabout is landscaped so there are about 8 or 10 ficus trees, cypress trees and there were very dense bushes too but they were all bulldozed down a few days ago. I don't know how she has survived for that long, she doesn't ever seem to venture to cross the road (thank God because the traffic there is very intense). I am guessing she sleeps in one of the trees.

What's worse, someone dumped a rooster there too some weeks ago, I guess with the idea of having babies...

Well, a friend from a stray animal sanctuary and I have been trying to trap them; last weekend we got the rooster - he went straight into the cat trap after yummies.

The girl, however, is too smart, and many people have tried to get her. She flew up into a tree yesterday when she saw us approaching, and we stayed across the road for an hour and she never got down again. Then we ran out of time and patience and left. This morning I was there from before the dawn, and I just didn't see her anywhere, and at 7 am I had to go back home to take care of my own babies and get ready to go to work.

We tried a week before to go there at 11 pm (when the dense bushes were still there) but we were afraid to scare her out into the traffic, confused after being woken up at night, so we left.

What would you do, how would you approach this situation (apart from cordoning off the whole roundabout???)

Someone suggested drugging her with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisette - is that even safe? I would not want to risk for sure, but I was told that's how they used to catch pigeons in this country.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... The roundabout is apparently going to be revamped and I don't know where she's going to stay. And being amidst all that crazy traffic, my heart sinks just thinking about it.

 

[TimBaumann]

At night when it's dark a chicken is usually very still and can be caught very easily. You could also try (If no one has tried that before) a normal bird catching box with a stick and string? Just get some mealworms, and chicken food, wait for her and pull the string. This is just what I would try so if someone has already tried and failed I guess this reply is useless!
Good luck!

 

[chfite]

Chickens are so subdued when it is dark that you could walk right up to her and pick her up with little to no resistance.

Chris

 

[Dudu]

Thanks guys!

The box with the stick and a rope has already been tried - and I'm afraid now she won't be so keen to try to go in again (the first time we were without a rope, just waiting for her to touch the stick so it would close, LOL, they both ate all the yummies and went back out).

At night, unfortunately, the trees on the roundabout are lit from underneath with a sort of a torchlight (to look beautiful and mysterious I guess). Besides, there are enough street lamps around it too - I once had a rooster get scared at night when we went to our farm, he jumped in this dim light from the roost and began to run for his life - I'm afraid if we scare her and she jumps before we catch her, she could easily get run over because the traffic is right there (I'm seriously thinking to ask the police to halt it just for that moment).

And the trees are too darn tall there!! You can't just walk up to them and reach her, we'd need a ladder (not a problem) and hope that it would reach high enough to get her.

Thanks for the replies though, very very much - any ideas are very much appreciated and I'll continue looking into these options too.

 

[Dudu]

I even found a pic - I don't know at what time they took this pic WITHOUT traffic because usually it's roaring there with all the noise!
http://www.lc.gov.mt/mediacenter/Images/1_Roundabout Triq l-Imdina.jpg

 

[donrae]

Personally, I'd just leave her alone. You could put out food if you want, but feral animals die all the time, it's just part of life.

 

[Hannah11]

Ok Im not being helpful at all but I just looked at the picture and WOW you can't say the girl doesn't have taste she picked a lovely spot to set up camp! (apart from the traffic) It just makes me angry people think its ok to dump animals and in such a dangerous area, Im really glad you are looking out for them!
Thanks!

 

[lahowardjr]

There was a game hen that roosted on the back dock of a feed store that I worked at a few years back. She would jump off the roost any time anyone would try to catch her in the early morning or evening. One night I came out to the dock, with the manager's permission, with a ladder on a very dark night and tried to catch her to take home. No luck. The city lights at night were too bright and I never could get her. She would fly down and disappear into the night. I don't know if she was "dumped" but more likely just escaped from someones yard. Game hens are flighty and are wild to say the least. Maybe if I tried a throw net of fish net I may have been successful. The hen disappeared a few months later. We saw several Hispanics on different occasions later that year trying to catch her in the street. I'm sure they probably were successful and she was either diner or put in their coop. Hey.. I tried. I wouldn't put too much time into trying to catch her. Its frustrating when a chicken out smarts you!

 

[nok13]

you have jto put feed out for her at the same place every day, in a trap that u do not touch or set but keep open all the time; then when she is really really used to going in and out, u have to either set it or u pull it when she is inside and deep in to eating. if u do it too soon, she learned not to go in again; and once she's in u have to wait a bit so that she gets her reward: food; and is deep in to eating so that she doesnt back out... OR u have to find some folks like my hsuband who are hunters and good tree climbers (thais from villages, or other equivalent folks with this kind of life style), he's gone up all sorts of trees to get chickens off their roosts, and once had a guy go up a eucalyptus to get our runaway humoungous python... ifu chase her, she will just go higher up.

btw, they arent drugging her just making her drunk!! if it works and they do it it probably does work... try that u have a chance to save her, u dont, then she has a chance of being run over...

 

[flgardengirl]

I agree either get her trapped with treats or net her in the dark.