Possibly moving - what should I keep in mind?

[Solanacae]

Chickens come in different sizes, and so do crates, so just just test it in advance: put the chickens in and look. You want them to have enough room to all stand at once, or all lie down at once. For a 2-hour drive, they do not need space to move around, and they do not need food and water.


That would make sense if you were moving today.

Since the chicks are already 8 weeks old, things could change a lot before you actually move. The mother might "wean" the chicks (quit caring for them), and they might make friendships with other birds in the flock, or the chicks might need a crate all to themselves.

Just watch how the birds interact as you get close to moving day, and group them accordingly.


Set up the coop at the new place, move the chickens, shut them in.

The chickens will need to learn where their new home is, so be extra-careful not to let them out in the first few days (a fenced run is fine, especially if it is covered, but no free ranging until they've lived there for at least a week or two.) You don't want them trying to go back to the old place at bedtime!

These are excellent points, thank you!

 

[Lilbitsnpieces]

I concure with all the above..most important is to not let them out of new home for days..i say a week or they might not realize they moved...
If it is possible to transport them in their "shipping crate" that would be ideal.as well as house them in it for the few days your first there...its familiar to them and will help with the trauma of moving...

 

[LaFleche]

I would not put more than two in a crate and match them in size, so none get trampled. Use puppy pads inside the crates and transport them inside the car.

To keep them calmer, put a towel on top of the crates, but leave enough free space on the sides for proper air circulation.

If you plan your chicken tour to start early in the morning, you could already put the chickens in their respective crate late the previous night, this will prevent any chasing or other agitation in the morning and the journey to their new home should go smoothly.

 

[Solanacae]

I would not put more than two in a crate and match them in size, so none get trampled. Use puppy pads inside the crates and transport them inside the car.

To keep them calmer, put a towel on top of the crates, but leave enough free space on the sides for proper air circulation.

If you plan your chicken tour to start early in the morning, you could already put the chickens in their respective crate late the previous night, this will prevent any chasing or other agitation in the morning and the journey to their new home should go smoothly.

Thanks for the suggestions! Putting them in crates the night before is a really good idea.

 

[Lizzy733]

We recently did a similar move two months ago. I had 6 pullets\cockerels, 4 adults and 5 turkey poults to get across. I put them all in the car and separated them out by temperament. - 2 to a box for the adults and used small cardboard boxes with a large towel folded up at the bottom and paper towels over the top.

When your mostly nice chicken gets stressed, their nasty side may come out, so regardless of size, pack mates with mates.

As a pre-departure, I did a full two course drench over two weeks so I wouldn't be bringing any greebles with us. The day of, they all got a shot of polyaid to help them deal with the long trip.

If it's hot, stop every hour to offer water. I gave each box a millet spray for snacking too, but keeping them cool is priority, really.

Have a gameplan for unloading - they will need a confined cool place with food and water at the ready or ready to be quickly put together so they can get outta those boxes asap.

I would err on the side of caution with any place that may have had poultry previously and comes with a coop or run. Some things can stay in the soil, I think the golden number there is 3 years and most stuff should be gone (correct me if I'm wrong), so biosecurity-wise, you're best off bringing your own coop or building fresh unless the place hasn't had poultry for some time.

 

[Solanacae]

We recently did a similar move two months ago. I had 6 pullets\cockerels, 4 adults and 5 turkey poults to get across. I put them all in the car and separated them out by temperament. - 2 to a box for the adults and used small cardboard boxes with a large towel folded up at the bottom and paper towels over the top.

When your mostly nice chicken gets stressed, their nasty side may come out, so regardless of size, pack mates with mates.

As a pre-departure, I did a full two course drench over two weeks so I wouldn't be bringing any greebles with us. The day of, they all got a shot of polyaid to help them deal with the long trip.

If it's hot, stop every hour to offer water. I gave each box a millet spray for snacking too, but keeping them cool is priority, really.

Have a gameplan for unloading - they will need a confined cool place with food and water at the ready or ready to be quickly put together so they can get outta those boxes asap.

I would err on the side of caution with any place that may have had poultry previously and comes with a coop or run. Some things can stay in the soil, I think the golden number there is 3 years and most stuff should be gone (correct me if I'm wrong), so biosecurity-wise, you're best off bringing your own coop or building fresh unless the place hasn't had poultry for some time.

What is the full two course drench you mention? And where do you find polyaid? I’m not familiar with that product.

We’ve made multiple offers in houses, hopefully one of them gets accepted - the housing market here is pretty tough - but I don’t know for sure if I’ll end up in a house with a blank slate of a yard or not. Honestly, I prefer blank slate-type yards so I can landscape and place my chicken coop to my preference.

Moving our present coop is less feasible as I’ve looked into the cost/logistics of moving it and am thinking that I’ll have to have the new coop built and ready for chickens the day we move in. Putting them in the car at the very last minute and getting them in the coop as soon as we get there is definitely a good idea.

 

[Lizzy733]

What is the full two course drench you mention? And where do you find polyaid? I’m not familiar with that product.

We’ve made multiple offers in houses, hopefully one of them gets accepted - the housing market here is pretty tough - but I don’t know for sure if I’ll end up in a house with a blank slate of a yard or not. Honestly, I prefer blank slate-type yards so I can landscape and place my chicken coop to my preference.

Moving our present coop is less feasible as I’ve looked into the cost/logistics of moving it and am thinking that I’ll have to have the new coop built and ready for chickens the day we move in. Putting them in the car at the very last minute and getting them in the coop as soon as we get there is definitely a good idea.

Drench as in basic dewormer. - two doses one week apart to kill the adults and then catch hatchlings before they can produce eggs and break the worm cycle properly. The drench I used is aviverm - it doesn't kill tapeworms, but gets most other things. There is an egg withholding time involved, but my girls were on a bit of a haitus in that department anyway as I've mostly refreshed my flock this year - they were mostly outdoor chicks and are only just now getting to POL. I don't typically drench my birds, but thought with the fresh start, I could knock everything out ahead of time since I had the dewormer onhand.

Polyaid is made by vetafarm - it's a vitamin boost supplement with electrolytes, so any electrolyte or similar health tonic would probably do the trick. - just bolstering them because I knew they'd be stressed. We're in the middle of summer and it had been heating up then. We were also in lockdown and had an exemption to move house since we bought and the drive was already going to be 2 hours without factoring in road blocks. Part of the trip was windy gravel roads too, so knew it was going to be rough either way - even in a car with a-con.