Chicken Catcher - My Favorite Farm Tool

[@RichardHeadGaming]

My grandmother was like a chicken catching ninja with a wire tool like that.

[@farmhandscompanion]

If she was anything like mine, she could perform all her Ninja skills in a cotton dress with a bonnet. And climb through a barb-wire fence without gettin' caught. Thanks for watchin', Richard

[@jinksto]

Anyone that's never lost their dignity catching a chicken likely doesn't have chickens. :) We have a five foot walking stick for herding chickens gently. It's great for over agressive roosters too.

[@anneard1674]

lol

[@PatrickKQ4HBD]

Our roosters won't come near me, but my wife and kids have to be very watchful. I haven't ever hurt them in any way. 🤷

[@tsiharter6423]

The best thing to teach an aggressive rooster to behave is the ax. What we did was buy straight run, and by 4 months, you knew which cockerels were the friendly ones. The rest were caponized. Yeah, that's late, but it stops them from growing tough.

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

Wait 'til you start raisin' geese. The old-time farmer's kid that grew up on my farm in the 1930's and such used to talk of "shoein' the geese" to take them to market. He said they'd herd the geese through warm tar and then through some sand so that it'd stick on their feet and protect them as they moved the herd off to town. I don't know why they wouldn't just load them in a big crate and put that on their horse-drawn wagon. Just the way they did it back then, I guess. Be careful of them roosters. When I was a little kid one of them jumped up and spiked my lip with his spur and it took a couple of stitches to get the wound closed. Because I was embarrassed of the scar, I ended up wearing a mustache (after I got old enough to grow one) for the rest of my life. Edit: I forgot, there was just a tiny bit 'more' to that story. That Sunday we had dinner at grandma's and the 'guest of honor' (as in the main course) was that same rooster.

[@tsiharter6423]

@@yepiratesworkshop7997 I remember Dad making poultry crates. Every summer, hordes of chickens and ducklings were hauled to town and sold (late 50s to early 60s). In the fall, geese. We had emdens, and later, China geese. We trained roosters by hatching our own. By the time they were 4 months old, all the aggressive ones were butchered and the easy going were left. Easy in that they didn't attack us, but God help anything in the henyard or barnyard that they didn't like.

[@kenthorsen4558]

I caught my wife 35 yrs ago with one of those... she has very skinny legs. Have a good weekend everyone.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

🤗

[@happilyretiredmark2964]

Never seen or heard of that chicken catcher, but that's why you are my favorite KZbin channel. You share the things and way of life that our forefathers used and lived. You are the man! God Bless

[@farmhandscompanion]

Hope you're doin' well, Mark

[@livingintongues]

Id like to see a demonstration of this device , in my heart I suppose I'm from Missouri 😂

[@stonesoupallentown5302]

I had one in my barn and I had no idea what it was. Thank you for the video. Can't wait to use it!

[@wcswood]

Nothing beats a well trained dog. All I gotta do these days is holler, "Lady, we got a chicken out!"

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Great job with the Chicken Catcher. That's a pretty slick idea whoever thunk it up way back when !! Thanks for sharing and showing how to form the catching end. Stay safe and keep up the good work. Fred.

[@57WillysCJ]

We always used number 9 wire as that was the heaviest gauge kept for farm work. I do like the idea of the wood handle on this. We just made a loop in one end as it hung in the door of the chicken coop. Baleing wire was not stiff enough.

[@PatrickKQ4HBD]

Is that high tensile fence wire?

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

That's what I used. High tensile fence wire. The thick stuff.@@PatrickKQ4HBD

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

To me, the wood handle is essential. It gives you the kind of grip you need to guide the wire and keep the 'trap' opening on the right side of the chicken's legs. If you're making one, just use a 1-1/2 to 2-foot section of a wooden broomstick or go buy a wooden dowel at Lowe's or Home Depot. You can either drill the hole in one end a bit smaller than the wire diameter and it'll fit tight as a nail, or you can make the hole a little bigger and fill it with epoxy glue before you shove the wire in it. Either way works.

[@TheCajunHomestead]

Great video, I still have ours from the 1970s when I grew up living on the farm. I have used it a couple times, checking my chickens for injuries. Great tool for the Homestead.

[@nicolem376]

“Never use a chicken catcher in anger” 😂😂😂 Another grain of wisdom from Pa Mac. Seriously though I needed this video. This seems a lot better than the nets I see everybody using.

[@manicdonkey]

My XL fishing net has just about had it after this last year of catching chickens. It worked well enough for the past few years, but it's got quite a few large holes at this point. This video came right at the right time to save me having to buy a new one. I'll give this tool a try - thanks Pa Mac! Loving the video format of you talking at the work bench like this, by the way!

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thank you for watchin', manic donkey

[@EthanPDobbins]

You can make your own net for the one you've got too with a piece of cloth or a feed sack.

[@marthaking2860]

I am 74 yrs old and as a kid I grew up with my grandmother having a homemade chicken catcher. I'm happy I found you. June 2024

[@tedlarson2078]

Aug. 2024.

[@bobrees4363]

#9 galvanized wire seems to work the best, as many others have already said in the comments. Baling wire or coat hangers aren't quite strong enough. The drop ceiling hanger wire may work well, but we didn't have any when Dad showed me how to make one fifty plus years ago.

[@ciphercode2298]

Thats one tool thats goin on my to make list. I love little projects like this as the days turn colder and shorter,and i certainly can use it

[@mountainwolf1]

I am definitely going to forge one of these for the homestead thanks for sharing pa mac.

[@PaulMeyer-v8t]

Howdyyawl from the land down under. What a fantastic invention. My wife & I run a small farm in South Australia & we have 2 of these catchers Simplicity is the key to keeping same. Loved your video. Keeping it real😊

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thank you for watchin'

[@josephwintersieck9292]

More than fifty years ago I was taought to use the "poultry hook". We still have one and it doesn't need a handle. Any piece of #9 wire will work if bent correctly. ( aside: Home Dept tryied to send me to the electrical department when I asked for # 9 wire. Your might have to find a "farm store" to find it ). It's good for people to learn such basic skills.

[@zekestrom]

Thank you so much for the Design idea yesterday we spent over an hour and a half chasing chickens around the neighborhood

[@keithbrigman5179]

Great job enjoy your channel you are so right about the chicken catcher. As I got older I won’t attempt to catch a chicken without it. Makes the job easier and calmer for the catcher and the catchie. Works great for turkeys as well

[@norass411]

Just tore apart an old box spring today and was wondering what I could do with the heavy wire pieces. This recommendation was perfectly timed!

[@charlespizzi82]

This video needed a demo, thank you.

[@rickershomesteadahobbyfarm3291]

I met someone who made a few of these from old whip antennas that came off of semi trucks.

[@SouthWestIron]

Invaluable tool! I have made them out of necessity as they are really the perfect tool for the job.

[@louiscornwell338]

My grandmother had one of those. Every time I saw her with it I knew we were having chicken for supper.

[@kennethwilliams7522]

Short and sweet on Favorite Farm Tools are best. Miss your early style videos, thought they were witty and very humorous.

[@farmhandscompanion]

I appreciate that, Kenneth; thank you. (I'll still be comin' out with the early style FHC Show from time to time, though.)

[@Grzz51]

When I was a kid in the 1950s and 60s my dad made one like that but it didn't have the wooden handle, just a bit longer with a round loop on the other end. Great invention.

[@rustyul]

I really really really thought you were going to demonstrate the use of the chicken catcher. I'd love to see you in action.

[@PatrickKQ4HBD]

I have a bundle of the galvanized steel wires used to hang drop ceilings. I make all sorts of sturdy things with them. They're about as thick as a pair of needlenose pliers can handle, so they're the perfect gauge for me. For birds on the ground, we like to set up a 45 degree corner with a piece of plywood or the like, and guide them into it so we can pick them up.

[@farmhandscompanion]

That sounds just right, Patrick

[@bluespruce786]

I remember seeing one of these hanging from a peg in an old wood shed and wondering what it was. Mystery finally solved =) Thank you for posting this!

[@swanhill772]

Your content is of the highest quality on this platform. Thank you.

[@farmhandscompanion]

I appreciate that, swan hill

[@perfectweather]

Great video, thanks 👍

[@DWerner7822]

Interesting tool. It looks like it may also work to snag drumsticks off plates from across the dinner table.

[@TheBereangirl]

🥹😂🤣

[@bird3287]

I just subscribed. It;s funny how when us men get older, all we wanna do is sat 'round and talk about tools, lol. I'm in. I have seen or heard about one of these before, but no clue where. At least with your video, we get a better look at it. thanks

[@johngordon5354]

I can't thank you enough for all you've taught me! I'll be making a chicken catcher.

[@johnreno9418]

I agree John, I was inspired to make one out of a scrap section of a cattle fence panel and a Cedar branch I had laying around. I used Gorilla glue to hold it together and finished off the handle with a little boiled linseed oil rubbed onto it.

[@johngordon5354]

@@johnreno9418 someone gave me a draw knife today. My chicken catcher handle will be my first attempt at a cylinder, lol.

[@robertqueberg4612]

I’m 75, and used one of these chicken hookers as a kid. It was used first by my grandfather who owned a hatchery. Every year we caught roughly 150 birds. As you said, the distance between you and the bird helps your batting average. Nearly all of ours were crated at night with only a 2 D cell flashlight in the coop. There are a lot of ingenious, purpose built tools that are unknown to the past couple generations. Slipping, and falling in a coop that should have been cleaned a while back is a good way to lose your dignity in a hurry. At that point no one wants to be your friend.

[@Shep01]

Managed to make one out of a coat hanger(it works but floppy like he said, thankfully i don't need it often).. I learned the thinner and stiffer the wire the better. that one looks great though. Nice handle too, whoever made it will be proud it is still snagging chickens.

[@togo3624]

Cant tell you how many chickens I’ve caught with one of those. They work amazingly well.

[@mgreene939]

I have a chicken catcher my dad made from an old coat hanger that we still use. Those coat hangers were much high gauge than the ones made today.

[@LynnBedford-s9e]

I loved this video! I have the original chicken catcher my daddy made back in 1930. My kids think I'm making it up.

[@VisitPunjab]

Thanks brother love from punjab

[@vanezya]

So awesome! I will definitely try it out. Thank you!!

[@garyhooper1820]

An old True Temper steel fishing rod makes an ideal one ! Cork handle , and perfect taper . Very springy metal . We had one back in the 60s at the farm .

[@Bluegill_Hill]

I'd never seen one before but I've heard of. Was told great grandmother used a wire with loop on end. Is dang cool to see this tool, thanks. It adds detail to an old story. Plus, I'm gonna make one, heck yeah.

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thanks for watchin', Bluegill Hill

[@johnlshilling1446]

We always had one of these around our chicken houses as far back as I can remember... (60s) Though this is the first I've heard of them being for sale. Everyone made their own. Everyone with chickens, chicken pens, or chicken houses, also had heavy-duty wire around...

[@user-rf3cn2ou3x]

Love your shop layout

[@TheCrusades1099]

Bought one of these last week. Waiting for it show up!!!

[@farmhandscompanion]

Alright!

[@Dave-ty2qp]

That's the neatest thing I have ever seen. And I've seen a lots. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[@farmhandscompanion]

You bet, Dave

[@devonolsen1331]

Have most definitely needed this the last few months😂

[@GYMYJIM]

Thanks! Been using net, but they know what it's for. I'll give this a try. Shalom

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

I"ve never heard of a chicken catcher. That is genius.

[@mrhalfstep]

I once watched a 13 year old country boy catch a chicken for his Mama to cook by using a fishing rod and reel. He had a kernel of hard corn, with a hole drilled in it, tied to the fishing line. He cast it at the chickens and started reeling in and the chickens chased after it. One eventually grabbed it and swallowed it and he just reeled her in like a fish (more like a kite). Damnedest thing I ever saw. I was 11 or 12 at the time.

[@wesleyperry3193]

Everything you said about catching chickens, basically sums up my experience

[@farmhandscompanion]

Yes, yes. I know.

[@joannc147]

Lol….don’t use it in anger! You have a wonderful, droll delivery. Thanks for the video 👍🏻

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thank you for watchin', Joan

[@chrisharalson6568]

I made one out of bare copper ground wire once. Worked great.

[@sylvainmagnan4545]

Thanks, I'm making one of these today 😂 Seems a wonderful tool

[@jetownsend1]

I have never heard of a chicken catcher before, but I have needed one badly for about a year. I have been compromising with a fishing net, but like you said, the chicken just gets tangled up, and they can see the net coming, and try to escape before they get got.

[@reloadNshoot]

Its creepy that this video came across my feed this morning. Yesterday evening we got home just as it was getting dark and the chickens were nervous, vocal and running around the outside of the coop.. i went and investigated and sure enough found a possum curled up in house slong with some broken eggs.😮 I "re-homed" he possum but the girls did not want to go in and roost. It took awhile catching and getting them in there and one of these catchers would have been just the ticket. Thanks for inspiring me to make one or two and have them gor the next time! 😊

[@majinkakashi20]

Lol great. Love your videos pa Mac. God bless

[@chrisprattmt]

Would've loved to see a demonstration on an actual chicken!

[@TheBereangirl]

Me too.😊

[@ace1926]

Me too.

[@donaldpaterson5827]

I was using that contraption 65 years ago in Scotland, made from a piece of fencing wire.

[@Ivanhoe52]

That reminds me of Rocky, when Mickey made him catch a chicken with his bare hands for a training. He (Rocky) also thought that it is undignified. The face he made was priceless... 🙂

[@HaaraldEigerson1066]

“I feel like a Kentucky fried fool!” I think Mickey was just messing with Rocky.

[@Jason4Star]

Pa Mac, I love your videos dude. This was was familiar to me. Just me trying to catch a chicken that escaped the run was about like this. Love to you and your family from South Carolina - in Christ.

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thank you, Jason

[@donmobley2483]

We had one of those when I was growing up. Great

[@EthanPDobbins]

Don't know why i hadn't thought of this. I've been using a net just like the one you showed. Net is a lot easier than hands for catching them when they are on the move but I'll have to make me one of these for catching them where the net can't go. Got some galvanized wire/rod that broke off a cattle panel that should be good for it.

[@derekandjo75]

Greetings from the ozark mountains! Arkansas side!❤

[@derekandjo75]

...great Info!

[@JohnnyRay920]

I was expecting you to say to use it by catching the chicken around the neck. Lol 😆

[@douglasvantassel8098]

Great stuff, thanks for making these!

[@nancygorman]

Wonderful!

[@davelorge5156]

I didn’t know I needed this but KZbin did. I butchered chickens for my daughter last year it sure was fun watching the grandkids try to catch ‘em.

[@cheesenoodles8316]

I can confirm the fishing net. A flighty chicken eluded me for days. This tool would have saved me some trouble.

[@kurtremislettmyr7108]

Thank you.

[@jeandarbyshire4391]

As a teenager I used a chicken hook to catch chickens for my mother to process and cook for dinner! Dad made ours but it didn’t have a fancy wooden handle.

[@LolaBathory]

Love this👏🏼🐣

[@CPMJunkRemoval]

My papa actually taught us this!!

[@jjh9355]

I thought two things watching this. One, Bob Ross meets Pa Mac. Two, Pa Mac can bend steel in his bare hands.

[@DKWalser]

When I was a kid, we'd get 100 chicks from the feed store every spring. A couple of months later, Mom would send me up to catch her 10 chickens for processing. We did 10 chickens a week until the flock was the right size. To do that job, I made a chicken catcher from a wire coat hanger. Thought I'd invented it!

[@fortitudinefarm]

I’ve used this. Works on ducks and turkeys as well. May have to spread the wire apart some for larger birds

[@farmhandscompanion]

that's a good word, fortitudinefarm

[@plainsimple442]

I am a blacksmith and make chicken catchers among other useful items for home and farm.

[@loryevans6241]

Great..I can't wate to get one..I'm going to love it..❤😊

[@diannepark7024]

remember helping my grandpa catch chickens with one if these

[@BeADad2447]

There is a chicken catcher? That would take all the fun from a few young boys with sticks at the farm! That was great fun! Instant subscriber! Great video. (I bet all the kids in this family were well behaved!

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

I was a chicken-catchin' "expert" when I was a kid growing up on a Pa. farm. Now, 60 years later, I'm 'semi-retired' on a farm and my wife decided she wants to have chickens so she'll have eggs for baking stuff. (Real farm eggs really are MUCH better than 'chicken factory' eggs.) Well, she misplaced the actual old chicken catcher and I tried to make one out of some fence wire that seemed almost thick enough. Well, it looked right. It was sized right and everything else was 'right' about it. Except one thing... The wire was too soft! It bent when it hit something (like a running chicken) and it didn't hold them very well if I was lucky enough to hook one. We got 'em all caught up and moved, but I wasn't happy with my chicken catcher. After we found the real (original) one again, I examined it a bit more closely and found that it was indeed a little thicker wire and that wire was SPRINGY. You could whip it back and forth and it wouldn't bend. So, that was the secret to these chicken catchers. That, and a bit of a round wood handle about as thick as a broom stick and two or three feet long also helps with the aiming, use and success of these things. While I didn't have any nice spring-steel rod or even wire in that guage and knowing that these days the only stuff available for anything is in an overpriced blister pack at a Big Box hardware or home improvement store, I looked around the farm to find something that might do. What I found was some of the thicker 'high tensile' steel wire that we used to fence in the Scottish Highlanders back when we were raising and selling beef. The stuff left over (about enough to fence another field) turned out to be perfect for the job. "High tensile" fence wire (the real stuff) is actually a carbon steel that's been heavily galvanized to keep it from rusting too fast when it's used for fencing. The galvanized factor was bonus. It wouldn't rust like Pa Mac's antique chicken catcher -- at least not 'til it's about as old as his, anyway. And, being carbon steel, this stuff had that "spring factor' going for it.. The problem is that it is a little hard to work with due to the tempering it got, but it will bend if you use a vise so that you can have both hands free to work in the hook. It would bend easy if you heated it up, but I don't reccomend that because you'd lose the temper and springiness unless you re-tempered it. You'd also lose a bit of that galvanizing, too. Anyway, I made a couple of them and then even hid one so I could find it when the others do their 'disappearing acts.' If I get a bug up my butt some summer's day and have enough ice-cold beer in the cooler that I go up to my blacksmith shop, I'll make a few and put them on Etsy for anybody that wants to buy one. First, I have a bunch of fly-swatters to make and a bunch of campfire stuff for campers and R/V'ers, land don't even mention the piles of knife blades I've made and haven't yet put the handles on nor made the leather sheaths for. Then, there's a couple of shootin' iron holsters that I've developed for keeping my .45 LC handy when I'm drivin' around the farm. So, chicken catchers are sort of on the back burner for now. Anyway, it was nice to find this video and you've got a new subscriber -- ME!👍👍

[@royevans7793]

From what I remember, my grandparents used about the same thing, made out of a coat hanger. I can remember once my grandmother let me try to dispatch the chicken. She had a short stick, and would put it on top of the chickens neck, stand on each side & pull up on the legs & toss it into the yard. I was too short ti complete the job, just stretched the neck. I was promptly relieved as a chicken killer.

[@feraltweed]

Dang. Never heard of such a thing but I’m gonna make one now. My chickens are friendly but boy they enjoy making a fool out of me. Thanks I mean it

[@smartest-person-here]

the term you're looking for is a chicken gig. Either way, they work great. 🐓

[@hawks9142]

With how easily that tool can be made I imagine a farmer who finally had enough angrily bending wire to finally catch that darn chicken

[@visverkoper1]

Ceiling grid wire, the wire used for suspended ceilings might be the perfect size from watching the video. Builder supply stores carry this. Its cheap and galvanized against rust. Next you need a common dowel. Some epoxy, and some bendy magic from some jumbo needlenose and viola, a chicken catcher. I'd woodburn my initials or whatever. I don't know what length would be good.

[@johnnorman1793]

I noticed you had the head of your wire offset, do you find it works better that way..??

[@benniedonald]

I used one often in my teens. I doubt KZbin is ready for a chicken neck wringing contest. 😅😅😅😅😅😂

[@BigHat83]

I have some wire left over from dismantling a bed frame.... Seems like it'll be about right. For anyone who didn't already know, a bed frame is a great source of free metal.

[@domading2759]

Love the new style of videos.. But I do miss your old video style

[@farmhandscompanion]

I'm not through with the old style, domading2759; there'll be plenty more of the old Farm Hand's Companion Show to come

[@Chris-nt9lk]

Old owners of our place left one of these here in the coop. I didn’t know what it was and now I do.

[@rochrich1223]

It looks like it would be convenient to have one with every set of Joel Salatin chicken tractors you have.

[@farmhandscompanion]

I imagine so

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

I’ve never heard of this tool. Do you have one that will fit a 3 year old? Or a husband? I feel sure I could sell those out of the trunk of my car.❤️🤗🐝

[@farmhandscompanion]

I think we're gonna need a heavier gauge wire.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

@@farmhandscompanion Yeah, and maybe give it some kind of lure. Just think of how many we could sell!!🤗❤️🐝

[@bmug-u2g]

My favorite chicken catcher is my youngest grandson. He’s now 7 and for the last 4+ years he’s had the ability to grab me any hen or roo very quickly.

[@gretafields4706]

German farmers have a sheep catcher. Used on a back leg gently.

[@pinocolada4254]

I need to make me one. And maybr show it to my brother. He workes at a company who mainly catched chickens. On commercial poultry farms. Now they just use small Eastern European guys to crawl into narrow hiding spaces.

[@gregroyat3541]

Used #8 country phone wire ( what we had). We had a 6 footer and a 10 footer for when they got in the trees. Made one for my boys in rhe city out of twisting 3 tie wires togeter.

[@TheBereangirl]

A chicken catcher?😳 🤦🏻‍♀️All the wasted years...all the humiliation that could have been avoided...🥹😂 Whenever my husband and I need to catch a chicken, usually an ailin' one, we hum the Rocky music as we attempt to barehand the bird. It makes it kinda fun.🤷🏻‍♀️ The ailin' ones are easier to catch by hand, but not by much.😒 Anyway, I'll be making two of these handy dandy tools for the Eastside and Westside girls runs. Thanks Pa Mac.😊

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thanks, as always, for watchin'; hope yall are doin' well

[@KenCoppola]

Great video. where do you buy it?