What's The Best Way to Catch a Chicken

Chickens can be friendly at certain times but get hostile when they feel threatened. This is a common trait among different animals in times of danger. Therefore, you need to think out of the box on how to handle your flock of birds, especially when catching them for your own reasons. What are the five tools to easily catch a chicken with? There are several ways of catching chickens in their coop, or when free-ranging. To achieve this feat, you will need tools such as a long pole or poultry hook, fishing net, trap nesting, roosting bars, and bird trap crates.

You need to have full knowledge of how to easily catch a chicken. This is useful when you have the right tools. Sometimes chickens get loose, thus prompting you to find the easiest means of catching them.

Also, you may want to catch them when doing the routine inspection for parasites, or any other problem. Just like other species of birds, chickens will also scatter to avoid getting caught in the process. This may turn out to be a frustrating affair and an exercise in futility if you are lacking the right skills and tools for trapping your birds.

Sometimes you may get injuries or find yourself involved in what might look like a marathon between you and your birds. Before you find yourself in the middle of your chickens trying frantically to catch a specific chicken you must have one or several of the following tools at hand. These tools will make your work effortless and keep your bird safe. Here is a comprehensive list of the best five tools to easily capture a chicken when it is necessary.

Tools to Easily Catch Your Chickens

1. By Use of a long Pole or poultry hook

On average, human beings can run at a modest speed of 8.6 mph. Chickens, on the other hand, can reach a speed of 9mph. So, the difference in speeds between an average person and chicken is somehow minimal considering the underlying factors.
Now coming to the subject matter, the pole used in catching chickens is usually four feet long with a hook placed on one end. Here is the theoretical part of using this pole; you simply have to hook it around your chicken’s foot and carefully hold her while she is still in that moment of frenzy. With experience, you will find this exercise to be effortless and time-saving rather than chasing your bird around in a bid to catch her.
But you must be careful when approaching your chickens with this pole in your hands. Chickens are smarter and have sharp memories as well. So, the sight of this pole will send them in panic and they will most likely scatter around to avoid being caught. The best way of approaching them is by keeping the long pole out of their sight and everything else will fall in place for you.

2. By Use of a Fishing Net

Fishing net to catch chickens
Just like the long pole, the fishing net can also scare away your chickens once they lay their eyes on it. This happens so often when your birds spot you using it to capture one of their flock members. With their sharp memories, your chickens will seek refuge far away from you to avoid getting caught.
But if you can make them escape to their run or any other contained place then fishing net can be quite an effective tool to catch one or a few of them. However, the captured bird will display a show of displeasure and perhaps some resistance once she is cornered using this effective tool.
In retaliation, your captured chicken will use pecking and kicking as the only defensive tactics at hand. From your experience, this type of defensive mechanism from your chickens should be normal for you.
Once in the net, make sure that you reach out for an old blanket or something similar to that to cover the captured chicken. Much to your surprise, the chicken will calm down and become somehow cooperative knowing that she’s not being harmed in any way.
The use of fishing nets to catch chickens is common among the scores of breeders out there. They turn to this tool to capture the chickens they want to get out of the pens for reasons known best to them. By so doing, most of the birds become traumatic, thus causing a lot of panics every time they see a fishing net nearby.
In addition, some chicken owners use the fishing net to catch those birds that are fond of roosting in trees during the night. To succeed in their mission, these chicken keepers employ the trick of capturing their chickens every time they are on their way up the trees instead of climbing the same trees with the fishing net in their hands.

3. By Use of Trap Nesting

There is no easier and better way of capturing your chicken than using the trap nesting tool. This is the most effective tool that captures chickens in a very clever way. All you have to do is to set up one or several nesting boxes in anticipation of getting hold onto that specific chicken. The moment a chicken enters the nest box, it spring shuts so fast that the chicken will have no time to think of escaping from it.
The main drawback of using this tool is that you will most likely catch the wrong bird instead of the intended one. But if you are capturing your entire flock for a routine checkup, then the trap nesting is the best option ever.
You can use this method when you want to capture one or a few of your birds. If you make a habit of using it every time you want to catch a chicken, the rest will perceive the nest boxes as places of unpleasantness and try to avoid them by all means possible. In the end, your hens will start laying eggs elsewhere rather than using the nesting boxes. Otherwise, this is quite an effective tool that you may use to capture your birds so easily.

4. By Use of Roosting Bars

As it seems, the use of roosting bars is the only way of catching chickens without making them traumatic. Also, this tool does not require any special skills for you to catch one or a few of your birds.
Next, use a small flashlight or a powerful headlamp when you are going to catch your chickens. Wait until they have settled before moving in.
You may now enter the coop with your flashlight beam pointing to the ground. Go slowly and place your hands over her to stop her from flapping around.
Gently remove her from the roost and take her outside to a safe place to carry out your assessment. When you are done with this exercise, take the chicken back to her previous position on the perch. That’s how easy it is to use the roosting bars when you want to catch a chicken.

5. By Use of a Bird Trap Crate

Easy set chicken trap crate
The trap cage is another option that will make catching chickens effortless. The crate is an open mesh cage complete with treats or scratch placed strategically on the floor. The work of the treats, however, is to entice the chicken into entering the cage.
Next, you can fix this open mesh cage so it will attract your target chicken instantly. You can choose to stay at a considerable distance away from the cage to monitor everything.
When the chicken has gone inside the bird trap crate, pull the string immediately to shut the door.

Related Questions

Does building a trusting relationship with your chickens make it easy to catch them?

The answer is yes. Once you have a lasting relationship and trust with your birds, they will come closer to you. You will have an easier time catching them without causing a lot of drama or panic. In case you intend to perform routine checkups away from the rest of your flock.

What measures should you take when your chickens escape from you and start clucking and running around anyhow?

First, you will have to stay calm and wait for the flock to calm down. Then, you will come up with the best way of capturing your target hen without causing panic to the rest.

In Conclusion:

When raising chickens on your backyard, there are times you may want to isolate a few from the flock. So, you will have to devise ways of catching your chickens without affecting others. The most effective ways are to use poultry hooks, fishing nets, trap nesting, roosting bars, and bird trap crates. Whichever tool you decide to use, make sure that it helps you handle your birds appropriately.