people movin' to PNW and their animals.

[smilingcat]

Make sure you research zoning and animal control regulations (and don't just take someone's word for it, get a citation and verify it for yourself). Many municipalities consider chickens to be livestock, and prohibit them. That's changing as more and more people get into backyard egg farming - but changing slowly. There may be a limit on the number of cats you can have, too.

Portland allow 3 hens no rooster and 25 feet from residence.
Gresham allow "unlimited" chicken but the coop must be 100 feet from the property line.
Beaverton and Hillsboro NO LIVESTOCK!!! Hillsboro doesn't enforce until someone complains (but isn't that how it normally goes?) How dare they!!!
...
Troutdale defers to Multnomah county for regulations regarding animals. chapt 13. It pertains mostly to dogs, livestocks require a sign on the property stating it has livestock. Dogs require license and so does cats but no mention of limit on number of animals. Worst is that we would have to apply for a site permit $85/yr I think it was.

This is why we didn't even bother with Hillsboro and Beaverton when looking for a house.
Other aspect is the demographic, crime rate...

We used www.crimereports.com; www.city-data.com; and different cities' official website and searching for the pertinent laws. Number of domestic pets can be a problem but all my cats are strict indoor. I hope to connect with a cat rescue group so the city will look the other way regarding the $85 site permit

From my current rescue group, only thing we could come up is to cage them individually or in pairs. Each cage to contain food, water and a litterbox. Kitties to be mildly sedated. All three chicken in a big dog carrier with solid floor instead of wire floor, again food and water and dark fabric over the cage to keep it dark.

Dogs in the back seat. They are well behaved. plan to make a stop every 2 to 3 hours of drive to let the dogs relieve themselves and us as well.

Thank you for reminding me Oakleaf. A lot of people do not take these kind of things into consideration, but these cats, dogs and chicken are our babies... We would never move to a place where they could be taken away. That would be one of the worst nightmares for us.

And oh, I've requested to join PdxBackyardChix yahoo group.

Beth thank you for the idea of playing book on tape. My trip is shorter 16 hours or so but a lot more kitties

[Zen]

Chicken travel photos, please.
I live vicariously.

[OakLeaf]

We also had great success with DAP calming pheromone spray. There's a similar products for cats too.

The only "problem" is, DAP works on humans too! It didn't make me or DH drowsy or less alert, but we were close to being too chilled-out to drive. I'm not entirely sure whether it was really working on the dogs at all, or just made us not mind their travel-induced panic.

[Biciclista]

hopefully you have a lot of cat carriers. Chickens do fine in a box with a lot of bedding with water and a little food. I've gotten chickens in the mail and as long as they are in the dark, they are quiet and comfy. Your cats will complain a lot but they'll do fine too.
There are LOTS of animal rescue orgs down here and since your cats are indoors, no one is going to bother you. Enforcement costs money, they don't have animal control officers peering into windows.