MInecraft Zombie Children on Chickens

put a slab on the square you are standing on and leave a 1 square gap in the direction the water is flowing from (use glass if you want to be able to see what's coming). The slab will prevent anything from being pushed through but you will automatically pick up the items as they approach.

Adding a picture to clarify:

Side view:

 G   W
UG   W
UG   W
SWWWWW

W = water
  = blank space
G = glass
U = where you stand
S = Slab

The chickens won't be able to move into where you are due to the half slab keeping them in the water tile beneath the glass.

The issue I see is (especially on SMP) Mobs are loaded before blocks (last experienced this on 1.2.4) so they move before the walls/blocks load. I have lost many a chicken this way.

also this is made worse on SMP as the chunks are loaded/unloaded much more often.

Edit: should have mentioned, there is a fix for this in the next release, but until then, the only way is to stay with your birds at all times.

Edit 2: the only fix I can recommend is to replace all the wood with glass and hope for the best, as you are on SMP I would also hide this whole thing in case it is a chicken hunter, not a bug killing them.