pinebarrens
In the Brooder
We are new at this, our little flock is around 5 months old, Buff Orps, Speckled Sussex and Easter Eggers.
Our property is surrounded by woods, bordering a state forest. We have 4' tall fencing, the fenced-in space being around 1.5 acres. Recently we started giving the chickens the run of it, which was always the plan -- we really want them to be able to range the yard.
Today, they decided it's a super cool idea to fly up and perch on this one section of fence. They are not known as "flighty" breeds or anything and I guess I was hoping it just wouldn't occur to them to try this (please don't make fun of me too much.) Of course somebody ended up on the wrong side of the fence, in the heavy underbrush over there, and couldn't figure out how to get back. Then my husband and son got to crash around on the far side of the fence catching the panicky hen while I worked to keep her sisters from jumping back up onto the fence rail, and meanwhile our young rooster was running up and down the fence line calling the stray. And then after we had finally rounded everybody up for the evening (rooster very agitated, but to his credit still docile with us,) we got to pick the inevitable ticks off of husband and son and feed them to the chickens as a bedtime snack.
We don't particularly want to do that every day, and we're talking about our options for how to deal with it. Wing clipping? Attaching something along the top of the fence to extend it upward a little? Let them just figure it out on their own (would they ever? without getting eaten by a coyote or whatever first?) Condition them to stay away from the fence, or at least that section of it? What have other people done, and how did it work out?
Our parameters:
*We would like to continue letting them roam the yard
*We can't afford to replace the entire fence right now
*Our chickens are spoiled pets and we would be sad to lose one
*We are OK with an "ugly but functional" solution
Our property is surrounded by woods, bordering a state forest. We have 4' tall fencing, the fenced-in space being around 1.5 acres. Recently we started giving the chickens the run of it, which was always the plan -- we really want them to be able to range the yard.
Today, they decided it's a super cool idea to fly up and perch on this one section of fence. They are not known as "flighty" breeds or anything and I guess I was hoping it just wouldn't occur to them to try this (please don't make fun of me too much.) Of course somebody ended up on the wrong side of the fence, in the heavy underbrush over there, and couldn't figure out how to get back. Then my husband and son got to crash around on the far side of the fence catching the panicky hen while I worked to keep her sisters from jumping back up onto the fence rail, and meanwhile our young rooster was running up and down the fence line calling the stray. And then after we had finally rounded everybody up for the evening (rooster very agitated, but to his credit still docile with us,) we got to pick the inevitable ticks off of husband and son and feed them to the chickens as a bedtime snack.
We don't particularly want to do that every day, and we're talking about our options for how to deal with it. Wing clipping? Attaching something along the top of the fence to extend it upward a little? Let them just figure it out on their own (would they ever? without getting eaten by a coyote or whatever first?) Condition them to stay away from the fence, or at least that section of it? What have other people done, and how did it work out?
Our parameters:
*We would like to continue letting them roam the yard
*We can't afford to replace the entire fence right now
*Our chickens are spoiled pets and we would be sad to lose one
*We are OK with an "ugly but functional" solution
