Moving chickens

[CherishHolland]

My husband has an opportunity to advance in the company that he is working for but upon accepting the promotion,it means that we will have to move and I mean move we would be leaving Texas and moving to Kansas. We would have to move 70-75 chickens how would we go about doing that? The drive is about 9.5 hours long. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I do not want to sell my flock as I have spent many hours of research on the breeds we have and I picked through many a chick at various breeders so selling them is not an option for us.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Folks who attend shows or deliver breeding stock move birds every bit that far with no issues. You're going to need to make/rent/buy or borrow some containment crates. As long as the weather isn't over 70F, you'll have no issues at all. If it were me, I might consider crating them up as the day ends and they are on the roost. This causes no stress. Chasing them all down might be stressful.

 

[Chicken Momma1]

Not the bed gues but if u know anybody that has like a horse trailer you could put your flock in the containment crates like Fred's Hen's was talking about

Good luck

Emily

 

[Fred's Hens]

I move a dozen birds back and forth, 12 hour drive, twice a year. I've built a couple of crates that hold 6 adult birds or 9 juveniles comfortably. Sometimes I only use one such crate, other times, I've used two crates if I have to move a dozen birds. If I had to move 6 dozen birds, I'd build more travel crates, that's all. These crates can go into a box trailer or even a higher sided utility trailer and off you go. I find that the birds have no issue with 12 hours of travel. I like to travel at night or a cool, over cast day.

Once you have the birds crated, it's best to be on your way relatively quickly. Make sure you have facilities waiting at the other end to feed and water once you release them. It works just fine.