Moving the hens to their outdoor quarters is one of the spring tasks that always seems to be delayed. This spring, the coop temperatures have been kept reasonably cool by the biomeiler and the outdoor temperatures have been kept unseasonably cool by fate. So, the hens have stayed indoors too long, as usual, and the chicks have stayed on the brooder table too long, as usual. Moving the birds was definitely on the to-do list, but nothing had forced it to the top.
Today, one of the Cornish Cross chicks provided the “relocate the birds” task with just enough buoyancy to float it to the top of the to-do list. While I had the mesh curtain pulled back to feed the chicks, one of them jumped off the table. He landed in a sitting position, but with such impact that I felt it in my feet. Fortunately, he was unharmed.
When Melissa and our eldest offspring returned from work, we performed the relocation. I use a fish landing net to catch chickens. It reduces the amount of running around and doesn’t bruise the birds or strain their legs the way a ankle crook can do.
From past experience, the hens know what it means when they see me carrying the fishing net. A new twist is that these hens are all from layer breeds and are noticeably more excitable than the dual-purpose hens we have had in the past. Chaos erupted as I caught the first bird.
I used the net to catch the hens, Melissa opened and closed some used feed bags while I loaded three hens in each bag, and the eldest held the filled bags closed until we were ready to carry them away.
The walk from the coop to the outdoor pens is not a long one and the birds generally remain calm while in transport. Catching the second batch was less chaotic. It took three trips, but we had them all moved in half an hour, or so. The last batch of hens showed mostly a token resistance as they were captured
It takes a surprisingly long time to release hens from a feed bag. Many will resist release by trying to climb up the inside of the bag as it is tipped. We try to be gentle, but sometimes have to resort to an incremental version of the magician’s tablecloth trick.
Moving the chicks to the coop floor was a comparatively simple matter. Melissa caught one chick at a time from the brooder table and handed it to me. I stood in the doorway of the partition wall, lowered the chicks to the floor inside the main living quarters and made sure they didn’t come back into the brooder side of the coop. When there weren’t any chicks left in her reach, we switched positions. With my longer arms, I caught the remaining chicks and handed them to Melissa to release.
To help them relax, we left the birds alone until the evening feeding time. At that point, they all seemed happy in their new spaces and none of them was alarmed to see me.
Sounds like Graduation Day. Each age group was rewarded with a change of environment.
I have to wonder what the emotions were of the chickens relocated to the outdoor encampment.