Chicken hammock/sling/bag????

journey11 said:
Wow, even to trim spurs! Mine need done, but I can never get DH to come give me a hand. I will have to give this a try. What did you hang the handles from?
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I have a hoop coop, so the places to hang things are endless! It would be easy to just screw in some eye screws on which to hang it from a traditional wood structure.
 
I use a hoop coop too. Good idea. I was thinking about it too...would you lay the chicken in it, lying on it's back? That seems to calm them anyhow.
 
journey11 said:
I use a hoop coop too. Good idea. I was thinking about it too...would you lay the chicken in it, lying on it's back? That seems to calm them anyhow.
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Tried that and it wasn't as effective, plus the weight of the body in the sling kept the vent from being exposed...had to dig to find it and then couldn't get a good look at it when I did. When they are positioned upright in the sling they seem to just put their tails up for you, quite obligingly it seems. EASY to see the vent then.
 
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Not on their backs. I can't imagine HOW I would have managed if I was trying to do it alone AND get them upside down.

Mine was a shopping bag - so picture looking at one of those reusable shopping bags from the side - with a chicken's head poking out one end and it's feed and tail out the other. I don't know what's magic about it , but the SECOND that I hung the bag they went still and calm.
I just tossed a length of paracord over a rafter, tied it in a loop and snapped a big snap over it and clipped one of the bag's handles in the snap. Then I took a hen, held her legs (yes, she was upside down for this part) and wrapped the bag under her belly/chest - then lifted the handle and caught it in the snap. BINGO - chicken in a sling.
I could trim their bums, inspect legs for mites, trim spurs, apply dust - twirl them around to take a look at their eyes and beak, check comb & wattles, poof some more dust... whatever.
Then I took the sling down and laid them on their belly on the floor & dropped both sides. Most of them had to be shooed out - they just laid there looking around, apparently quite content.
 
I don't even move the bag at all. Just pluck a chicken off the roost, support her chest with my left hand while holding her legs with the right and just aim her right into the end of the sling. It's an easy fit and just as easy to repeat the maneuver backwards when removing the bird....hold legs, slide her out until I can support the chest and then right back on the roost with the same hold.
 
so lucky said:
Chickens just naturally relax when you hang them upside down, don't they? Or even put them on their back.
I wonder if hanging them upside down makes too much blood rush to their head, and shuts down their brain, or something.
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NOPE!!! When I butcher I catch with a net, tie up the feet and hang and some of them fight while hanging upside down. Depends on the bird.
 
Never seen one gasping for air while upside down. Never seen one with its head engorged with blood from hanging upside down either...they have a specialized circulation, these birds.

When I carry birds from one place to another, I usually always carry them upside down...the big heavy breeds I have here generally quit fighting me right away due to having to fight against the weight of their bodies. I think that has more to do with the "calm" state they reach than anything else, as the lighter weight birds tend to fight and flap for longer periods than do the fatties. When they tire of it, they are "calm"~read tired and waiting to see what happens next.
 
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