wandering chickens

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bear7298

bear7298

In the Brooder
Sep 14, 2015
25
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I have a new flock of 6 hens that I free range in the afternoon after 3pm. but they will not stay in my yard they are wandering the neighborhood like one city block from home. I have been going a chasing them home but they still leave....Please help.
 
If they've found something good in a neighbor's yard, they will keep going there. It sounds like you will have to keep them confined.
 
but it's not just one neighbor they go 3 of them,,,, I hate to keep them in the run all the time.
 
bear7298 said:
but it's not just one neighbor they go 3 of them,,,, I hate to keep them in the run all the time.
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No offense, but your neighbors probably hate having their yards tore up and chicken poop everywhere. When it comes to being a responsible animal owner, pretty much everyone here is going to tell you you need to beef up your fencing and/or keep your birds contained in the run. If you have an appropriate size run, they'll be fine living there. An option is to build a tractor to allow them to graze.
 
enola said:
I don't mean any offense either, but I would consider a chicken roaming my yard to be a free dinner.......
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Ha ha ha! 2x Enola. I had one of my new layer 22 wks old got out last week and never was found except an egg in the middle of my yard. I guess my neighbors had her for dinner or a raccoon had her for dinner. Was really sad, but if they are roaming the neighborhood they are free for all. I don't want my neighbors to track in chicken poop in their house either.
 
Yes, I agree with Enola and Spartan. I live on ten acres, and my chickens pretty much stay on my property, but sometimes, they go to the property on the right side of our fence. We've put up some wire to keep them in, and so far it works. If they start flying over, I'll have to clip their wings to keep them in, which I don't want to do because I want them to be able to escape predators. The bottom line is that a backyard flock is just that, but in YOUR backyard, not the neighbors. I'd expand my run and look at ways of keeping them in your yard for their safety and your sanity.
 
Peeps61 said:
Yes, I agree with Enola and Spartan. I live on ten acres, and my chickens pretty much stay on my property, but sometimes, they go to the property on the right side of our fence. We've put up some wire to keep them in, and so far it works. If they start flying over, I'll have to clip their wings to keep them in, which I don't want to do because I want them to be able to escape predators. The bottom line is that a backyard flock is just that, but in YOUR backyard, not the neighbors. I'd expand my run and look at ways of keeping them in your yard for their safety and your sanity.
Click to expand...

We also live on a large parcel (11 acres) and our 4 chickens have started wandering. We were worried that they had gotten picked off, but later located them next door (which is over 100 yards) away. Got a call that they were 2 parcels over today (2 acres in between). I really didn't want to have to "fence" them in, so I'm trying to figure out if there is something else we can do to keep them I our yard? Right now the only thing that separates the parcels is a wooden cross fence (for horses) which is what they go right under. It about 200 yards of fencing.

Wondering if there are treats that would seduce them to stay?

This is our coop, which has an ample supply of food, and our back yard (over 1 acre). The fence they are going under is behind me.


 
I've found that if you have good things to eat in your yard, they tend to hang around. Mine have discovered the ground under our grape arbor in our back yard. That would not be a problem, but I put the dogs in there! I've been closing the gate, so a few brave souls will fly in and then I have to chase them out in the morning. I can't leave them or the dogs will catch and kill them. The dogs don't fool with them if I'm out there - they know better. But once I'm gone..... the chickens become fair game since they are in the dogs' territory.
 
Mine did that, too! I look out the door and there are 16 chicks all in my neighbors garden. They went right thru the fencing. I had to string regular chicken wire along it to stop them going thru. Now they're bigger and don't go there, but they still wander wherever their little beaks take them--and then theydon't know how to get back! I ran fencing to keep them contained. The posts you push in the ground with your foot, maybe one every 10 feet and then used those nylon zip ties to attach the wire. Easy to move. I left a 3 foot long edge between 2 posts unconnected to use as a gate, then secured it closed with clothespins. Easy.
 

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