Help me with transporting these chickens please!

[CaptainWarbeck]

I'm picking up three pullets tomorrow, all around 16 weeks old. I have a wire cat carrier I could use, but wondering if it would be too small for three.

Otherwise would a big cardboard box for the three of them be better? Where should I cut holes - I don't want them escaping! I have an hour's drive home with them in the car.

Snug in a carrier is better than escaping from a box in the!!

In the car!!

You want them in the dark and they will just settle down and go to sleep. I have never used a cat carrier but cardboard boxes work fine - tape the lid if you're worried. Small holes at about chicken head height or above, I would think.

It doesn't need to be huge as they will all snuggle up at one end anyway, like when they go to bed.

Ah okay. So maybe the cat carrier with a towel thrown over it to keep it dark for them. It is much more secure than a box!

I've got wood shavings for the hen house, will they be fine in the bottom of the carrier? Don't have any straw. Or newspaper?

Wood shavings probably more comfortable. Cat carrier with a towel sounds fine.

Thanks all

We had a traditional style wicker cat carrier when we went to get our three (all at point of lay). We thought it would only be big enough for two at the most and took a box with us as well, but the farmer just grabbed three birds by their legs and shoved them all in the basket! We put them in the boot where it was dark and I worried about them all the way home, but when we got there they had sorted themselves out somehow and were absolutely fine.