How to hold chickens?

[ranchhand]

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Mostly because they're strangling, or close to it. It can cause the crop to press against the airway, and it can also cause the crop to empty, in which case they aspirate their own vomit, so to speak.

 

[chickened]

Mine breathe when I have picked them up that way and have never vomited unless they just ate which means not all the food is in the crop yet. If your chickens are healthy and have the right nutrition they should not have airway obstruction issues. I believe the calming effect is one of submission not strangulation the crop should not move under its own weight a chicken spends alot of time with its head near the ground. I don't routinely carry mine that way but do sometimes out of necessity. A chicken being held is unnatural and is an aquired, tolerated trait that is usually encouraged by treats. Signs of strangulation or blocked airway is usually flapping and convulsing not the calm appearance of a chicken upside down...at least with my birds.
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Mostly because they're strangling, or close to it. It can cause the crop to press against the airway, and it can also cause the crop to empty, in which case they aspirate their own vomit, so to speak.

 

[Judy]

I've also read that holding them upside down compresses their lungs. It's been discussed in threads about taming a difficult roo.

 

[chickened]

Where may I ask did you read that? chickens don't have lungs in the traditional sense. They do have air sacs that run throughout the body to circulate oxygen in addition to lungs. Holding them upside down does not hurt them.
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[galanie]

Mine struggle when I do the football hold (even though they can't go anywhere), but if I just slip my hand between their feet and set them on my palm, they settle instantly. They never have been picked up much so it's not that they are accustomed to being handled that way, it's just what they prefer so it works for me. Anyhow it's must easier to check them for mites that way than it is to try to look under a struggling chickens wing or butt feathers while still keeping the football hold.

 

[chickened]

It makes dusting them a breeze and you get the dust inbetween the feathers.
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