When the chicks have a problem they will let you know.  They start to chirp and squeak.  Sometimes this means they need water, or food.  Sometimes it also means they are playing football with a nail, yeah they do that…  Run from one side of the chicken tractor to the other with the nail or bugs while being chased by the rest of the flock.

Chicken Tractors

The other day we heard them squawking and Cassie looked out the door to see what they might be up to.  She says “Uht oh BK, some of the chicks are loose!”.  They had apparently snuck out thru the bottom of the chicken tractor that was laying on some uneven surface. We had made one and then a larger “chicken tractor” because they had quickly outgrown the bathtub and a chicken tractor never has to be cleaned…only moved. Anyhow, we were able to catch 2 of the 3 fairly easy but there was a small leghorn that simply didn’t want to be caught and she is, as we found out, much faster than we are.  Plus she can slip thru a chain link fence with ease and taunt us.

We spent quite a bit of time chasing her before we came to the realization that it just  wasn’t going to work.  She has some talents we simply don’t.  Speed.

I had just about given up when I decided that we are humans and should be able to outsmart a baby chicken.  Right?!  So I devised a ‘cartoon trap’.

Cartoon Trap

I put some bait under a box and held the box up with a stick attached to a string.  We tried food as bait, no dice.  We tried water, nope.  It came to our attention that the only thing she wanted was to be with the flock but she couldn’t find a way back in.  So I made a small cage out of wire and put another chick inside it so she could not escape.

It worked perfectly!  In about 2 minutes she had walked over to see the other chick and was under the box.  Trapped!