How to catch chickens?

I'm tired of being a chicken chaser. There has to be a better way!

How do you catch a chicken that is not used to you picking them up? Perhaps they don't care to be picked up?

I've seen things such as nets or leg hooks on the market but I'm not convinced they are the ticket.



Help a guy out please.

It has been a long time since I caught a chicken.

I would start early in the morning while the chickens are still in the coop.

Open the door just enough for one chicken to come out.  Now grab that chicken.

Put that one in a cage.

Proceed to repeat the open door trick until all of the chicken are caught.

If you only wanted one particular chicken, it is in the cage so just reach in and get it.

It will be interesting to read other folks thought on this rather thought provoking subject.

Very early in AM…or late PM ….while they are sleeping.  In any case, a long handled fishing net helps.

If you mean in general, I think Anne and John gave good ideas.

If you mean, how to catch a chicken that has escaped the coop/run/fence that is different. Here is what I ended up doing. As a side note, if you have a rooster, he will not take kindly to you doing anything that scared his hens.

When it first happened, I did the normal thing of asking someone to help, and we chased it until we had it cornered. But there are easier ways for some flocks. I do not presume that this would work with all flocks. However, there were two things that were generally true. The chicken that escaped wanted to be with the flock. And chickens are almost always looking for food. I had one of those movable electric nets. When a chicken would get out, it would be hanging around the outside of the net. I would bring out a yummy treat that the chickens liked and drop it inside the net as far from the opening as possible. This would keep the chickens who did not escape, busy. I then would open a length or so of the fence in such a way as to funnel the chicken. Then I would just walk at the chicken around the outside, and as the chicken was walking away from me, they would eventually find the opening and happily run back inside to get food with friends.

Also you can use something long like rake, broom, or stake to extend your area of control to guide the chicken in the right direction.

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm tired of being a chicken chaser. There has to be a better way!

How do you catch a chicken that is not used to you picking them up? .....
Help a guy out please.

What is the purpose of the pick-up?  Is this for examination, caging, or for slaughter?  Ours are shedded at night but otherwise very free ranging.  Catching them for caging/transfer would need to be an active and noisy affair of keeping doors closed, corraling them in the building and using hands, nets, etc. to make the catch.  No chance catching them once outside.  For us, many roosters end up in the freezer over a year or more of running about.  Hens rarely do as they are the target of choice for owls, hawks, foxes, coyotes, and probaby mink/river otters. (Dogs do a good job most of the time keeping watch, but the predator populations are healthy and stealthy around here.)  So for that purpose we use anything from pellet gun to .22 cal rifle.  Occasionally wife will be making up food for other animals and some kamikaze rooster will dive-bomb the food bowl.  Wife snatches him by legs and dispatches him quickly---evening dinner menu solved!

John F Dean wrote: In any case, a long handled fishing net helps.

What John says. I use the $25 walmart one that has a rubber mesh net.

It works great for escaped chickens or in an enclosed space. I even use it in the tractors on butcher day so there is less chance of chickens flying around and scratching as I catch them.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Rubber-Mesh-Fish-Landing-Net-High-Visibility-Orange-Mesh-and-a-Retractable-Aluminum-Handle/1348612361

We went with the "hooky-stick" as pictured in the video cover.  Home made though, not with a wooden handle.  It also serves as a handy tool for bringing branches of fruit trees down to picking height.

Matt McSpadden wrote:  Also you can use something long like rake, broom, or stake to extend your area of control to guide the chicken in the right direction.

Or if you're Canadian, a plastic hockey stick does a great job of herding! It's almost like they were designed for the job!

I only wrangle my chickens for two reasons. The first is for health inspections/treatment while the other is for culling. My flock of heavies will come right up to my so they are not much of an issue if I need to grab ahold of one of them. The bantams... boy are they flighty!

I have a leg hook and a net on its way to try out. I'll give my assessment in the future.

It's easy to catch them on the roost. Just let them go to roost then grab them by the feet and flip them upside down. If they are too high, such as in a tree branch etc, then push a wide board like a 1x8 or 1x10 up to their chest. They will step up on the board naturally, and then you can lower them down to yourself.

If I need to catch a chicken I wait until night and just pick them up off the roost where they are sleeping.  

I put them in a crate until morning.  A cat carrier works well so they are safe and comfortable.

 If it is an especially flighty chicken, I grab the feet while they sleep.   You can just put your hand up under the feathers so you get both legs and hold on.  The chicken may  flap and struggle, just put your other hand over the wings and hold it to your body until you can put it in a crate.    In the morning I can pull them out of the crate and do whatever I have to do with them.

Catching them while they're roosting is certainly more easy, but is not always an option and can cause the whole flock to stress out and start flying around haphazardly (not helpful at all if you're after a single chicken). If you have a very large flock to do inspections on, I would try to keep large scale catching to AM or PM when they're locked in. If it's a single chicken you're after, there's a couple different strategies I've found helpful: Wait for a food rush, pin them against a corner/fence, and get them to go into an enclosed area.
Chickens are highly food motivated, so giving them a treat of some kind makes them much more oblivious to you approaching (lots of chickens packed around a single, small area makes it much more difficult for them to notice you and respond quickly). My chickens really love bone dust and liver, and when I take them a block of it they all gather around the meat and it's fairly easy to pick off a single chicken.
Another technique is to corner them. In my experience, cornering them isn't so much about catching them squished against a wall as it is about flipping their mind into escape mode. When they think they're cornered, they tend to turn around and fly straight towards you in an effort to get past using surprise and speed. I utilize that unguarded flight as an opportunity to grab them. So when you're cornering them, it's not so much about "getting them into a corner" as making them think they're in a corner.
The enclosed area thing is fairly self explanatory. Get them into a smaller area (such as their coop) and catch them in a corner. The more birds you have blocked in, the more chaotic and quick they move, so I'd avoid having a lot of birds locked in if at all possible.
Believe it or not, it's actually much easier to catch a flying chicken then it is to catch a running one. Once airborne, they can't control their direction as quickly and it's easier for you to just grab at them and catch hold of something (a wing, their leg, etc). If they're running, they have a much quicker turn around time and it's harder to catch them. So if you can encourage them to fly (specifically using the "cornering" technique so they fly at you) it'll be easier to get them to fly.

For the record.

I tried both a leg hook and a net for my little skittish bantams. The leg hook was not an appropriate size for them so it was essentially useless. The net helped SIGNIFIGANTLY. Once they were scooped, they could be handled without issue.

Timothy Norton wrote:For the record.
The net helped SIGNIFIGANTLY. Once they were scooped, they could be handled without issue.

I caught 16 of my hens yesterday. I had sold them and the person who bought them wanted to meet me at 2pm.

If I had caught them while they were roosting, they'd have spent a lot of the day, including some of the hot part of day, in small cages.

Although it can cause a stir, the rubber fishing net did a great job and I caught them right before the buyer showed up. I got quite a bit of side eye last night from the remaining flock when I went to check on the rabbits, but everything is back to normal as of this morning.

Timothy Norton wrote:...I tried both a leg hook and a net for my little skittish bantams.  

My friend who raises Banties swears by "children's telescoping pond or butterfly nets". They're smaller and lighter weight than the net pictured higher up the thread, so one is less likely to injure a Banty. I borrow her net if I'm having to catch a layer chick that's banty size or smaller for some reason. I have one area referred to as "The Attic" which I use for setting ducks and chickens, but when I have to move the moms and hatched babies to a proper brooding mini-hoop, the small net is quite helpful.