Moving help

[kelizd]

Hi all - we are moving, which includes hiring a shed company to move our beautiful coop and run that my spouse built last spring. The chickens will need to stay in the garage at the new house for a few days before the coop and run are secured at the new property. Any advice on getting them set up to be in a garage for 3ish days? How can I keep them happy? And, maybe more importantly, how do I move the actual chickens to the new house? We have 7 hens and it’s only about a 15 minute drive to the new house. Do we move them in individual boxes? In groups of a few chickens in one box? All together? Help!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Do you have any large dog crates? Although if it's only a 15 minute drive, I think a big box would work. Don't forget to poke holes in it for air.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Lucky you! Moving to a better place and taking your flock along. We moved our chicken coop and hired a Towing Company (like for cars) to move the shed. They reeled it up on the back of one of their bigger flatbeds and moved it without problem. Anyway, if you have wire dog crates I'd put 3 or 4 chickens in each to move them. If you don't have them I'd use cardboard boxes and put 2 or three chickens in each, making sure the ones you put together won't fight. For the garage stay I would use cattle panels to "fence" off about 1/3 of the garage, put wood chips on the floor, a makeshift roost (can be a used clothing rack) and a nesting box for them. Use a 10 lb. feeder and a cat litter box for water (got mine at the Dollar Tree for a buck), and they should be fine. Make sure the "fence" is at least 6 feet so they won't want to fly over it. It's temporary, don't spend a fortune on supplies unless you plan to re-use them! Congrats on your new home!