Re: opinion on flock-moving?
- From: "Amy Blankenship" <Amy_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:55:24 -0500
"0tterbot" <spl@xxxxx> wrote in message
news:JnlYh.30393$M.13048@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wondering if anyone has an opinion:
my new chook complex is now very nearly complete & i have to move the big
flock. i have moved my three littlies weeks ago, which was harder than i
thought - i asked them to follow me, which was fine for about 20 metres,
then they got nervous. i lured them another 10 metres with food, but after
that they just wouldn't come any further as they were too far beyond their
comfort zone. in the end i picked them up & carried them (which they
didn't like whatsoever because they were already beginning to stress by
then, but they got over the affront of it all.) my four newbies are
already in, so no problem there.
the other flock is 3 mature isa browns, and 7 game hens. the isas will
follow me & the gamies will follow them, but i truly don't think i'll be
able to lure them all the entire way without losing a game-hen or two
(they have no attention span at all!!), and once _they_ become stressed
and panic, it's on for young & old & you can't catch them.
my ideas:
1: use several pieces of meat on string to keep everyone's full attention
& move them all along as quickly as possible, & hope it works. my boys are
quite good at "herding" & could try to make sure they don't break, but if
they break it's going to be hopeless. if they get to a certain point &
won't go any further it's going to be hopeless too.
2: wait until they roost at dusk, then go in & put them in boxes & then
put them in the new place.
the problem with 1 is obvious - distractable flighty game hens. the
problem with 2 is that i doubt all the gamies would stay calm while i get
each into the box. dh can't help with this, as the gamies don't like him
so they'd start running away screaming as soon as he went into the hen
house. therefore one person (me) would have to get all the hens in boxes
very, very quickly before they unsettle & start carrying on. i could do it
over two evenings perhaps, but if that would ultimately give them more
stress(?), i'd rather try over one evening, & save the isas for last. i
could perhaps do one session at dusk & another session an hour later...?
tia if anyone has any advice. i very much dislike causing my gamies any
stress as they suffer a great deal when they do become stressed & i would
like to prevent that as much as possible. would being moved at night cause
them more stress than to move them during the day?
I move my flock a lot, and this is what works for me:
I have a couple of old dog exercise pens I use to help with this kind of
management. Before my girls were trained to come when called, I would open
the door to the hen house into the exercise pen and then fasten the loose
sides of the pen together with clips. Then you can slide the pen along the
ground by bulging out the side closer to the new digs, moving the other side
closer to the new digs, etc. If you have two people you can just sort of
shuffle it along, and everyone walks to the new house. This is similar to
Jill's suggestion.
If the chickens are all loose, you can arrange the exercise pen(s) near the
door of the new digs. Get as many of the hens to go into their new pen as
possible with food. Then close the door and herd the rest into the exercise
pens with a broom. Arrange the pen so it now surrounds the door, then open
the door and push in the hens. If you don't have an ex pen, you can
probably rig something up if you want to try this approach. I started out
training my chickens by letting them out into two connected exercise pens
while I did the chores, but finally it just became easier to let them out
completely and call them back when I was finished.
If you have access to a rooster that is not kept with the hens, that can be
a powerful motivator to scurry back to the rest of the flock.
The big secret to herding hens, if that is what you choose to do, is to
remain calm and unhurried. Often if you're too enthusiastic in your
attempts to direct the hens they shoot off in another direction entirely.
Sometimes a single step toward a hen who is four feet away is enough to get
her moving in the right direction. Remember that being on the loose is not,
in itself, detrimental, and if all else fails the chickens will probably
return to roost at night and you can try something else.
HTH;
Amy
.
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