Transporting chickens

Hi folks,

In 3 weeks' time hubby and I will be going to collect our trio of Black Rocks, woo hoo! 

We are collecting them late on in the afternoon, using a large dog cage with hemcore on the floor of it.  We have a 3 hour drive though and I'm wondering if you can give us any tips on keeping them from being too stressed for that long.  We aim to keep the car quiet, airy and cool and thought perhaps a light weight sheet draped over three sides of the cage would help them feel more secure and settled.

Any advice or reassurance would be gratefully received!  Thanks. 

When I took some chicks up to Scotland 4 years ago to Aggy and Munty, Munty told me to put a margarine tub in the box with them, and cut a sponge to fit it.  Fill that with water, then if the chickens are thirsty during the drive, they can help themselves, but the water won't spill.

These chicks were only 2 weeks old when I took them by train and it took us about 5 hours to get there!  Chicks were fine!

So as long as its dark and as cool as you can manage they will be fine.  They will sit down and go to sleep for most of the journey probably!

Our's only came from an hour away, we also used the dog crate with a towel over. They cooed all the way home and came straight out and got down to business eating and drinking as if they had lived there all their lives.