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[Sandy2572]

We have 3 hens, roughly about 22 weeks old. One, DJ Nugget, has just started to lay which we are all excited about. She was the skittish one until she started to crouch a week ago and now she is your best buddy and follows you everywhere in the garden and is quite vocal about it too.

 

Our Speckledy, Ellis, is now the nervy one. DJ Nugget and Millie positively push past me to get out of the run in the morning, but Ellis stays put until I have moved a safe distance away and then she runs out to join the others. She is very difficult to catch and I was wondering if anyone had any advise on calming her and catching her. Will her behaviour also change and become more ameniable once she starts to lay? She will eat out of my hand if the others are there but if she sees any movement in my other hand she practically jumps over the other two and scares them too.

 

Thanks

[Plum]

I've found that they do but some remain friendlier than others - unless you have food Wait and see how she is when she comes into lay.

[chocolatedog]

I'm afraid my Speckled Star was very much like yours.....would feed out of my hand, but was extremely difficult to catch. And unfortunately not all chickens will squat in front of you when they come into lay - neither Spice nor Pepper did, and my new Pepper doesn't either....Ginger on the other hand has always been easy to catch. The best thing to do is invest in an omlet net and stretch it across the garden and drive the chickens into it - at least that's the only way we could ever catch our old Spice (until her last few months when she wasn't 100% well and then she tired easily and was easier to catch...!) Otherwise a large fishing net is apparently very useful.......

[beach chick]

OR, a walk in run - because they have limited space to escape from you

none of mine are what I would call cuddly, so if I want to lice spray or whatever it's a case of getting up and getting into the run before they want to go outside.

[Redwing]

The bird may well calm a bit when she starts to lay

 

The best time to handle a bird i when they are sleepy so its a good idea to get them out of the coop after dark and get them used to being handled that way - before long they will start to come to you

[beach chick]

Redwing, I've always worried about getting them in the dark! what if they flap and escape and you are left hunting for a chook?!

[Sandy2572]

Just as I was beginning to despair. I've just been out the back door and there was Ellis. As soon as she saw me she immediately crouched and let me stroke her back. I'm sure I could have picked her up if I hadn't had a handful of grapes for them.

 

So I am overjoyed now that this is the first time I have managed to lay hands on her without a family effort to corner a stressed hen. Plus we may be getting eggs soon (fingers crossed).

 

I must say, the getting them out of the eglu sounded a great idea and not too stressful (for them or me), but what if the others decided to make a break for it too... I suppose I could bribe them with some food....

[Powerlady]

Once they know that you mean treats/goodies she'll be putty in your hands

[dislaney]

I agree! I have a very nervy Columbine who isn't yet laying and although she doesn't like me to touch her (let alone pick her up!), now that she knows I bring treats she is very happy to hop aboard and climb all over me, riding on my shoulder round the pen ....

[Miss Millies Chicken]

Two of my chickens are very easy to catch but Queenie is a different matter. I'm convinced she could out run Usain Bolt and trying to capture her with a net is a lost cause. The only time I can pick her up easily is when she is broody and sitting in the nest box I have tried patiently over the last year to gain her trust but she isn't any better. She was given free to me by the breeder as she was being badly pecked by the other chickens. However she is not bottom of the pecking order now.

[Space Chick]

I have a few girls that do not crouch and do not like being handled. I find that if I give them some corn on the ground, you can sneak up behind them and pick them up. Once the are being held, and spoken to softly they seem to relax.

 

I know your girl has started to crouch now (yey immenent eggs ) but it is important to handle all your chickens regularly to do health checks

[The Dogmother]

I always recommend handling them at night as Redwing has suggested. I have a skittish chicken - she's 4 years old and shows no signs of settling down. I either do her medication/fettling at night or pop a fisherman's landing net over her.. no stress or harm catching them that way.

[Aunty e]

I'd never try to catch any of mine at the moment. My old girls were pretty placid, but the new ones and the white star are all bonkers, and I've never once managed to catch a pekin without chucking a bucket over it. We do everything at night if we need to handle them, or use a big landing net.

[Sandy2572]

I must admit I thought it was me, and I hadn't realised that some hens don't crouch and continue to be hard to catch. I think I would be so stressed if after 4 years they still made a major fuss about being picked up, let alone the hens being stressed.

 

I tried getting her tonight and it was easy as pie - once I shuffled the other ones out of the way. She is always quite docile once you've caught her but is usually so panicky during the catching process. Last weekend she did a hop, skip and jump across the pond (fortunately we have it diamond decked for the toddler and the lily pads are still there).

 

I know when we collected the girls they said to handle them as much as possible but it is always a toss up between stressing them out chasing them to catch (which we did once a week to give them a once over health check) and not handling so much and being calm and letting them trust you first.

 

I will definitely adopt this night-time approach in future, it works like a dream , even if they did tell me off a bit for disturbing them.