If you have had chickens or fowl of some kind, it happens to the best of us.. we teach them to come when called, we train them to go into the coop at night, we round them up and chase them in with brooms, arms and in my case the help of either DH or the hounds..
While I do need to be picky on who I ask for help from, I have some mighty fine bird helpers in my four legged hounds.. turkeys or ducks or geese are so much easier then chickens but they all have their challenges
But still.. one day, you will go.. o no I am missing blue fluffy butt hen and you will look around and finally, you will look up.. and sure enough that hen, or duck or turkey hen or whatever will be sitting in a tree, looking down at you..
They will always be in a tree you can not climb, and if they start low enough that you might be able to grab them with the net, they will move higher and out of reach..
What to do.. what to do.. well if its dark.. you leave them for the night and hope that they will be alive in the morning and looking to join the flock but what if you get that bird that goes up and will not come back down..!
No problem.. Decoy to the rescue!
if you know who your in the tree bird likes to hang out with, this helps but if not, just grab a bird of the same species and pop them into a big wire dog crate and stick them say.. five to ten feet from said tree.. and then them kick a fuss.. for at least ten min and the settle down..
That is a key.. that bird in the tree will NOT come down till the bird below is calm as well.. so once they calm down and make, I am a happy bird sounds, not AH, I am stuck in a crate sounds..
Head back out and put fresh food and water in the crate.. and I mean the good stuff here.. if your birds love scatch or meal worm or fresh carrot peels, whatever makes sure it end up in that other birds bowl..
Then put out fresh water and food just in front of the crate and leave to go watch.. as the bird in the crate starts eating, she will be talking a mile a min.. making all kinds of .. o, this is so good sounds..
The bird in the tree will come down, branch to branch, slowly but surely or it might just fly down once it thinks its all clear.. and it will start eating and talking back..
At that point, you head out.. all calm and steady like you do any other day but with the bird net at the side and you catch your tree bird, give it a wing trim! and back into the flock..
I can honestly say that this has been learned the hard way over the years, the get the ladder way, get the climb the tree way.. that never works, they just climb higher and onto branches you can not follow..
But this way.. its proven and proven time and again.. have a great day folks.
Just another Day on the Farm 