How to Get a Chicken Into the Cage
- 1). Capture the bird for short duration cage trips to the vet or other short trips. Open the cage door. Catch the chicken and wait for it to calm down. Wrap a towel around the chicken if it's not handled regularly. Insert the chicken into the cage head first. Take off the towel and close the cage door. Use this method for transporting the bird when the bird will not be in the cage for an extended period such as a show.
- 2). Use training and desensitization techniques to place the chicken in a show cage. Set the cage inside the coop and place favorite treats inside. Allow the chickens several days to come and go inside the cage. Wait for the birds to enter and leave the cage readily (they have become desensitized). Place the show chicken inside the cage for a few minutes with the door closed. Feed the chicken treats and remove it from the cage. Slowly increase the time the bird spends in the cage. Do not leave the chicken alone during this stage of training.
- 3). Place a food bowl and waterer inside the cage (as it will be in the show). Place the chicken inside the cage as described in step two. Increase the time the bird sits in the cage. Add 1/2 hour of cage time each day. Decrease time if the bird becomes anxious; never rush the desensitization training. Feed treats and sit by the bird to calm it down during the process.
- 4). Consider training anxious or flock bound birds in groups. Use a large cage and train two birds in the cage together using the previous method. Take two cages and set them side by side as they would be in a show. Put a bird in each cage so that they can settle each other through companionship.
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