Commissioner returns to Norcross neighborhood to round up wild chickens

NORCROSS, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News was there Thursday for an unusual roundup in Gwinnett County. It was an attempt to rid a neighborhood of a wild flock of chickens that just keeps multiplying.

Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh was there as Gwinnett County commissioner Tommy Hunter personally rounded up a dozen chickens.

"It's like having fiver or six little kids outside your house screaming at the top of their lungs," neighbor Joel Heysel said about the chickens. "Annoying noise."

"If you start chasing them and then they'll start chasing you," neighbor Solomon Williams said.

The wild chickens have overstayed their welcome in the neighborhood off Norcross-Tucker road. Animal control efforts to round them up failed, so Hunter decided he needed to show off his skills.

Tucker was raised on a chicken farm and knows how to trap the animals safely. He rigged up some PVC pipe, chicken wire and zip ties in an attempt to trap to outsmart the birds.

Hunter teamed up with Commissioner Lynette Howard, county staffer and residents to first chase the chickens out into the open.

"You want them to see you, but not scare 'em," Hunter said.

Hunter had been out to the neighborhood before. He said he'll return again to round up more of the birds. He said he has no problem getting his hands dirty if it means solving a problem.

"County commissioners might not be much, but we are smarter than chickens," Hunter told Kavanaugh.

Hunter said he will keep the chickens on his family's private farm.

WSBTV