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Using Culverts as a Chicken Underpass

 
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I am thinking about trying to install a larger culvert under a path so that I can get chickens from one fenced area to another.
The coop/water/food are on one side of the path and the sugar cane/food forest are on the other side.
If I fence in the sugar cane/food forest, then I can allow the chickens to have access to the weeds/seeds/bugs underneath without having redundant infrastructure.
The issue is that the path needs to stay open to traffic all the time so gates would be complicated.

Has anyone trained chickens to walk through a culvert to access another area?
What size would the culvert need to be to allow the chickens to feel comfortable passing through?

The length of the culvert would be 12-15' long and the average chicken is the size of a red sex linked.  The roosters may have a challege, but should follow the ladies.
For 3-4 months of the year, there may be a little water standing in the bottom.

Any advice would be good.

Thank you in advance.

andy
 
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Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1273
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Chickens can be readily trained to come to a food call.  Just consistently use the same call every time you feed them.  I have always used "Chickie! Chickie! Chickie!"  Letting them get a little hungry helps them learn faster.  Then to train them to pass down a culvert, make some large tubes of cardboard, set up a pen with a fence down the middle with the tube going through it, and feed them on the far side of the tube, using the food call.  Let them first get comfortable passing through a short tube, then keep adding tube sections until you reach the length of the tube you want them to go through ultimately.  I would make the tube or culvert a comfortable standing height for your breed of chicken.
 
Andrew Cotarelo
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Tyler,

Thank you for your suggestion, the technique to get them used to the tube is a great idea.
Chickens can be easily trained, especially when they are young.
I will try that and I might even have pieces of culvert that I can link together over time to get to my final length.

Has anyone ever trained chickens to use a culvert as a pass-through?
 
Tyler Ludens
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Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
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I have only seen pictures of them going down wire tunnels, not solid ones.  https://www.countryliving.com/life/kids-pets/a16758721/chicken-tunnel/
 
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