Give your hens some support

Paul Donovan looks at the right and wrong ways of handling birds

Over the years I have had the privilege of writing for Practical Poultry, I have covered many behavioural problems associated with chickens. Now, I want to cover a behavioural problem which is not of the chickens doing, but that of the owner. And that is, the manner in which many mishandle/carry their birds.

Unlike many domesticated pets, chickens do not take kindly to being handled, despite what people may believe. They are a prey species, and it brings out the fear in them that they are being attacked by a predator – this instinct has not been bred out of them. So, to handle them roughly, or inappropriately, can be an even more distressing experience. And there are some inexcusable ways in which chickens are routinely handled, in the erroneous belief that they are an acceptable part of their management.

NEVER CARRY THEM UPSIDE DOWN BY THEIR LEGS

One of the most common, and controversial ways of carrying a bird, is by its legs. In many countries it is legal to carry chickens this way, while others illegal; even where it is illegal, the practice still goes on regardless. Irrespective of whether it is legal or illegal, you are dealing with a live animal which deserves respect. Put yourself in the bird’s position, how would you feel if you were carried around upside down.

It is bad enough to carry one bird like this, but in the country where I live, I so often see people carry four or five in one hand. Chickens are crammed in small wire pens, and sold along the sides of roads, in full glare of the sun (while the seller is sat beneath the shade of a tree), without food or water. So, they are already suffering from stress/heat stress, for it only to be compounded even further, by being carted home upside down, and swung about like a toy.