taking care of neighbor's chickens...

[77horses]

Hey everyone!
Our neighbors just recently got some chickens from a local feed store, and now they are all feathered out, are still pretty small(bantam size) and haven't gotten "adult voices". They are so skittish and shy, even after being handled quite often while growing up, but they are really cute and I love visiting them.
Well, since we have chickens and quite a lot of info and experience(mostly from BYC

), and since they are going camping over the weekend, they asked us to care for their 7 chickens while they are gone. All we have to do is let them out, make sure food and water is available, and then put them back in before dark. Easy enough, right? Oh but did I mention they are skittish?

It takes a while to chase all 7 and put them into the coop, since they like to hide under it.

The first 5 are easy; they are the 2 white leghorns(which are the tamest and friendliest), and the 3 black austrolorps(spelled that wrong, I know...) and they are fairly easy to catch. But the New Hampshire Red(or that's what we think she is), and another one(golden laced something...) are the hardest to catch. They are really quick and when you catch them they scream like you're hurting them.

But anyway, since I'm at my mom's house, my dad is caring for them right now. He called me last night and told me he couldn't catch the last 2 chickens. We don't have our neighbor's number(except for their house phone, which isn't helpful, obviously lol), so he decided to just lock everything up and leave the small chicken door open so the last 2 could go in on their own. Besides, they are in a caged-in area, which has extra locks and everything and their coop is really safe.

Just thought I would share this quick little story. Hopefully, when they get older, they will all be less skittish and shy.

 

[TexasVet]

As a rule, chickens go into the coop at night. If you wait until twilight before you check on them, most will probably be inside. If they're the "prefer to sleep in the trees" variety, take some dog food with you to use as bait. I use the cheapest brand I can find; it looks like hamburger crumbles. Toss a few pieces in front of them until they figure out it's food, then walk to the coop and toss the rest in there. Mine go nuts for that stuff!

I also whistle before I feed my hens anything special. Only took a couple of days before I could whistle and have the whole flock running toward me!

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com