Transporting chickens

[Onebroodymomma]

I am about to get between 6 and 8 new chickens from someone and I need to get them back to my house.
I have used a dog crate before, but I am not sure if it will work for that many. We have two different dog crates, one is a smaller one that we used when our dog was a puppy and the other one is big enough to fit a fully grown German Shepard. Will 8 chickens comfortably fit in that crate, or should I bring more than one crate?

They are both the more enclosed ones, that you use for airline travel with dogs.

 

[Patti in TX]

The max I have been comfortable transporting together is 8. I would bring the extra crate just in case

 

[aart]

I used an XL (28 x 42 x 28) wire dog crate to move 10 full grown chickens, worked great.

I had brought several different crates with me, but she set the big one down at the run door, herded them inside and they were fine for the 45 minute ride home.

It was funny.... they would mostly stand, then when making a turn they would all hunker down at the same time.

 

[Onebroodymomma]

I used an XL (28 x 42 x 28) wire dog crate to move 10 full grown chickens, worked great.

I had brought several different crates with me, but she set the big one down at the run door, herded them inside and they were fine for the 45 minute ride home.

It was funny.... they would mostly stand, then when making a turn they would all hunker down at the same time.

We ended up bringing both kennels and only using the large. We picked the birds up after dark, and I am pretty sure they slept the entire way home. When I went to put them into the coop I had set up for them, I had to wiggle to the back of the crate to grab try and get them out.


A thick layer of pine chips made them feel a little more at home, i am sure.