Catching a chicken, the easy way

There comes a point in every chicken owner’s life when they will need to catch one of their birds for one reason or another.

Sometimes it’s because the chicken is sick or hurt, sometimes it’s to transport them, or perhaps it’s to harvest them.  Whatever the reason, I have only one thing to say about catching a chicken…

THEY ARE FAST LITTLE BUGGERS!

After a couple of attempts with no success, I thought “there has got to be an easier way.” Which of course led me to YouTube.

I watched several videos of people teaching some methods for catching a chicken but in every video the person was running around, panting like an overworked dog…no thank you.  Then I came across one that was so simple and so brilliant I just had to try it.

The guy in the video showed a simple trick.  All he did was take a metal hanger and bent a hook in one end of it that is just big enough to slip around one of the chicken’s legs.  Like this.

The other end of the hanger, I bent into the shape of a mock handle.  Like this.

Then the guy lured the chickens over with some food, quickly hooked the loop around one leg, and snatched the chicken up as she dangled upside down.  When a chicken is upside down, all of it’s blood rushes to it’s head and it immediately calms down.

Alternatively, you can take the chicken from the upside down position and turn it right side up and hold it in your arms.  Either way.

Here is a picture of the hook that is just about to loop around one of my chicken’s legs.

We have used this method many, many times and it is so easy.

It doesn’t hurt them at all (even though they squawk from surprise when they get snatched up).

The best part is that there is no running around like a crazy person from me.

Sweet!

Try it.  You’ll be glad you did!