Moving with Chooks

Recently my wife and I bought our first property in a small country town near Toowoomba Qld. We were very excited to have our own place that we could finally fill with all of the animals that we have accrued and have had at other family members place. Moving a house load of possessions is one thing, however moving over 100 chickens and ducks was no small feat.

We had to carefully plan this mammoth operation to ensure that the birds were comfortable and safe during the process. Moving in December/January, we needed to ensure that the birds remained as cool as possible, especially when you consider the heat waves and fires that were happening. This meant that we were limited with the times that we could work on construction.

Transporting My Chooks

1. Before I moved, I reduced my numbers of birds to the bare minimum (My wife said i could have sold a few more). This was hard, however it allowed me to condense my pens and move in a lot smother transition.

2. Firstly I prepared the ground at our new property to ensure that the pens were on a flat surface and were in the correct spot. I ensured that they were at least 1m from the fence line to ensure no birds would get stuck as well as to comply with council regulations.

3. I condensed my birds into half of the pens that i needed. This allowed me to disassemble half of the pens whist ensuring that all of my birds were safe. We hired a large car trailer for a week so that all of the pens would fit and we wouldn’t have to do so many trips.

4. We then assembled the pens that same day as i was keen to get the birds into their new homes.

5. Very late in the afternoon at a cool point in the day, I transported all of the birds in one go and placed them into their new pens.

6. We then disassembled, transported and reassembled the second half of the pens so the chickens could finally be spread out.

7. I then ensured that all the birds had their comforts like wood shavings and settled in nicely.

Top tips when moving with Chooks

1. Make sure that you have a well thought out plan of operation

2. Transport birds in the coolest part of the day

3. Ensure that the birds have always got access to clean water

4. Reduce numbers of birds prior to moving (or at least try)

5. Don’t do it alone, it helps to spread the weight.

6. Consider hiring a large trailer. Ours cost $50 a day and saved us a fortune when it came to reducing trips

7. Finally, try and do it in the shortest amount of time possible, to reduce the stress on the birds and you!

-Jack Murphy