On the behaviour of hens

[bunn]

If you were walking somewhere long distance (a several day walk), and for some reason, you needed to take a hen with you, how long do you think you would be able to carry the hen before it would become pecky and wriggly and generally not keen on being carried?  How long do you think it would need to spend pecking and doing hen things before you

Comments

[huinare]

From my brief experience tending chickens, I should think the hen would need to be exceptionally tame in order to be carried (or retrieved) for long without the aide of some kind of hood/container/etc.

[bunn]

I think they are going to need a basket!

[winniepoodle]

I have about 40 hens, lots of different breeds, some more wild than others. They all settle very quickly when tucked under my arm and carried around. Just need to press the wings to the side and hold them snugly, but not tightly. An occasional peck is not that noticeable. If you don't care about how the hen feels about things, it can be carried by the legs, upside down. Very docile in this position, but I can't imagine comfortable. Hens need to eat ALOT because of their high metabolism in egg production. I'm not sure how long this journey is going to be and how the hen will be fed.

[anna_wing]

I have observed village chickens, which tend to be very free range, when not entirely feral, and I don't think that they are willing to carried at all. I should think that the easiest way to transport a hen would be a basket with a lid. In the collapse of civilisation, basket-making skills would once more become useful.