To Catch a Chicken

[Aunt Angus]

Oh my gosh, my first and only attempt to getting chickens off the roost at night would have been a "America's Funniest Home Video" winner.
I was going to take a pair of Black Copper Marans to sell in the morning, so I tried to get the roo and a hen off the roost about 10:30 one night. I was going to store them overnight in the coop in a plastic tub with plenty of airholes. The roo was especially mean and suspicious of me, and woke up immediately, ready for a fight. I tried talking to them softly, but the light scared every body, and they all started squawking and flapping. I caught the hen and put her in the tub, but she kept forcing the lid back up. Even my girls I had had for years acted like I was a masked murderer. I finally grabbed the roo, probably by one leg and a neck, and managed to get most of him in the tub. I pushed him and his lady friend back in and slammed the lid down. I had to put a concrete block on the tub lid to keep them from escaping. They settled down immediately, but my blood pressure was through the roof by that time. I felt so bad that it had gone so wrong, but probably the most injured party was me.
This was the roo that had attacked me every time I went outside, and made my life miserable for a few months. Still, I did not to want hurt him or upset the others unnecessarily. (And yes, I did warn the buyer that the roo was mean.)
I have been determined to never have a rooster again, but darn it, it looks like my new batch of girls may have at least two cockerels, out of eight birds.

Laughing at the story, not the cockerel situation. That gets a different reaction:

 

[trudyg]

You are all much more talented than me. NONE of mine are to snag off the roost at night. As soon as I open the door, my roo starts bawking loud enough to wake the dead. That gets the girls moving around. I have to go in and then wait 15 minutes or so for him to settle down, but even then they are wary. I leave my light facing to the outside just in the doorway, so it's barely light enough for me to see the one I want to get.

As for the chicken hook, I bought one and couldn't get it close enough to them to even try to snag one. I think it's a heavier metal and maybe the coat hanger wire would be less obvious.

Someone on here told me to get them used to being handled by sitting down and handing out treats daily and said within a short time I'd have them wanting on my lap. Nope. It's been (maybe) 3 weeks now or more and they still come barely close enough to snatch a raisin or pea from my fingers. My fingers get snapped a lot. One, Scar, will flap onto my leg and right away off, just to get my attention. But none of them will let me touch them, they scoot away if I even turn my hand palm down near them. Are they just a really skittish bunch or what? I sit quietly, speaking sofly, feeding one lima bean at a time, and weeks later not much change. I'll keep doing it, but really! I expected quicker results. 2, my buff orpington and Henny Penny (black, no idea of breed) still stay way farther back than the others. I make it a point to get them some treats, too, but the others swoop in and push them away.

I will keep on working at it. My roo looks like he has scaly leg mites. I thought so in the past and greased him up with castor oil once a week for a month (broke my eardrums!) but now the scales are standing up again. I'd like to treat them all for more than long enough to be sure they're done. I am so jealous of all of you who have no problems handling your chickens.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You are all much more talented than me. NONE of mine are to snag off the roost at night. As soon as I open the door, my roo starts bawking loud enough to wake the dead. That gets the girls moving around. I have to go in and then wait 15 minutes or so for him to settle down, but even then they are wary. I leave my light facing to the outside just in the doorway, so it's barely light enough for me to see the one I want to get.

As for the chicken hook, I bought one and couldn't get it close enough to them to even try to snag one. I think it's a heavier metal and maybe the coat hanger wire would be less obvious.

Someone on here told me to get them used to being handled by sitting down and handing out treats daily and said within a short time I'd have them wanting on my lap. Nope. It's been (maybe) 3 weeks now or more and they still come barely close enough to snatch a raisin or pea from my fingers. My fingers get snapped a lot. One, Scar, will flap onto my leg and right away off, just to get my attention. But none of them will let me touch them, they scoot away if I even turn my hand palm down near them. Are they just a really skittish bunch or what? I sit quietly, speaking sofly, feeding one lima bean at a time, and weeks later not much change. I'll keep doing it, but really! I expected quicker results. 2, my buff orpington and Henny Penny (black, no idea of breed) still stay way farther back than the others. I make it a point to get them some treats, too, but the others swoop in and push them away.

I will keep on working at it. My roo looks like he has scaly leg mites. I thought so in the past and greased him up with castor oil once a week for a month (broke my eardrums!) but now the scales are standing up again. I'd like to treat them all for more than long enough to be sure they're done. I am so jealous of all of you who have no problems handling your chickens.

That might be why I can handle my chickens - I have no roo who guards my flock and sound the alarm when I go in the coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Beware of chasing chickens in the heat of the day, the stress and heat can kill them. Agree with others who say if at all possible, go in after they have roosted and quietly and quickly pick up the one you want, cradle it to keep it from flapping and it should settle down quickly. The others may cluck an alarm but if they can't see they can't go nuts.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Try taping red duct tape over your flash light. It's harder for them to see. You really have to try to keep them as much in the dark as possible. DH and I just use the light from one of our phones, and keep it hidden as much as possible, as in, tucked inside a jeans pocket so it just provides a dim glow.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Someone on here told me to get them used to being handled by sitting down and handing out treats daily and said within a short time I'd have them wanting on my lap. Nope. It's been (maybe) 3 weeks now or more and they still come barely close enough to snatch a raisin or pea from my fingers. My fingers get snapped a lot.

Try putting the treat on the palm of your hand instead of between fingers, easier on all concerned. Raisins are probably an all time favorite

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Have you tried dried mealworms? I had to start by sprinkling them on the ground at first, calling "chick chick CHICKEEEEEN" when they were babies, but soon they got brave and came closer, some even pecking out of my hand, and now they all know to come when they hear that call. None of them are hand tame, though, or ever likely to be. Lol, especially the BLs.

 

[so lucky]

I used to be able to catch chickens a lot better, but I guess I have slowed down in reaction time in the last few years. Just half a second makes the difference in a catch and a miss. I have to have my husband or a grand daughter help me if I need to catch them. I do have one of the new bunch that I thought was challenging me, running up to me like a cockerel might, but I finally figured out she was ok with being picked up. So now she follows me around. She is a black Marans, so thinking she was a he, after what I went through with the last Marans roo, I was a little on guard.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry, I always seem to have a "PS" to my posts ... this is called "successive approximation," and it just means you have to gradually train the chickens to get from where they are now to where you want them to be. If you want them in your lap but they won't come near you, first you have to get them to come near you. Then gradually, over time, you get them to come nearer and nearer until eventually they end up in your lap. So GRADUALLY they get APPROXIMATELY closer to your goal. Baby steps, see?

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

I will tell you this, my mother in law found in her barn, a chicken hook. You use it to snag a leg and pull the bird towards you. It really works quite well, I will try and get a picture.

I have one of these but some chickens just easily get their leg out of it, I gave up and went with a large long handled net.