Free ranging on 10 acres... Neighbors complaining that the birds are reaching their yard/garden

I don't use it, but I think the use of electric poultry netting is to keep predators out, not keep the chickens in. They will stay in even if you just have regular chicken wire. (Keep in mind, though, that that's the only thing chicken wire is good for. It won't keep anything from getting to your birds). Your neighbor has shown great patience in only speaking to you twice about the chickens in the garden and not taking further action. As far as, "the chickens love going into the woods".... You are the human. That means you're in charge. It's your job to keep them safe. It's kind of like with the kids. They may want or like something, but as the parent, you are responsible for keeping them safe and out of trouble. (At least until they're old enough to know better, then they need to face the consequences for their bad decisions. Chickens don't understand consequences, so you have to think for them always)

777funk said:

The problem is that they love the woods and the bugs under leaves. So much so that they will barely touch bagged feed. They get in the woods and wander all over the place which happens to be the 300 yards onto the neighbor's property. Once they found his garden this summer... it was over. If they did to his garden what they did to ours, he's not a fan of our chickens (or us most likely). When he told me about it the first time, I tried to dissuade them from going that way, but when you have 100 curious heritage breed meat birds (mostly cockerels)... good luck! The second time he called, I told him to go ahead and shoot them as he would any other pest if they go into his garden. What else could I say? As far as I know, he didn't (which surprises me). But I also told him we wouldn't have this problem again the next year (this coming summer).

So... no more ranged birds for us possibly.

But the bitter side of this is that we loved the free rangers because ticks (which were an absolute plague... as in 20-30 per person, per day in the previous years here) were non existent this past summer.

EDIT: I just saw your post about the electric fence. If they're going to be in the woods, we'd have a long stretch of fence to run. Possible of course but it'd be a long wire. Maybe it'd keep the other neighbor's dogs out of our yard. I wouldn't mind that benefit.

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'Not a fan' is an understatement.....if neighbors chickens decimated my garden, I'd be TICKED OFF!!
...and killing them is not quite the same as other pests.

bobbi-j said:

I don't use it, but I think the use of electric poultry netting is to keep predators out, not keep the chickens in. They will stay in even if you just have regular chicken wire. (Keep in mind, though, that that's the only thing chicken wire is good for. It won't keep anything from getting to your birds). Your neighbor has shown great patience in only speaking to you twice about the chickens in the garden and not taking further action. As far as, "the chickens love going into the woods".... You are the human. That means you're in charge. It's your job to keep them safe. It's kind of like with the kids. They may want or like something, but as the parent, you are responsible for keeping them safe and out of trouble. (At least until they're old enough to know better, then they need to face the consequences for their bad decisions. Chickens don't understand consequences, so you have to think for them always)

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True Dat!!^^^

I liked them going into the woods. We rarely had predator problems there. They got a great meal of bugs under dead wood, leaves, etc. The problem was they went further than I liked and onto neighboring property. I figure as far as the woods ranging, they will go where the food is best and that was in the woods. The next property over unfortunately looks just like ours and isn't far away. It takes them about 3 minutes to cover that ground and be on the adjacent property.

I'm not sure of a way to stop them at the fence line of the next property (which is obviously where the problem starts). Maybe the electric poultry netting along that fence line???

I use electrified poultry netting to contain some of my chickens. It is effective as I apply it. Netting is used to confine American Dominiques which are not strong fliers. The netting is extremely effective against ground predators larger than mink which is most. It is the most effective not mine dog stop I have. You do need to know how to use electrified poultry netting which means some proper ground prepping and use of a sufficiently sized fence charger. The fencing itself also comes in different "flavors" with some being more effective than others for containing chickens. I also use dogs that make the fencing effective against critters the netting does not work against by itself. The fencing does not contain strong fliers like my American Games which will still use it as cover.

My setting involves just over 18 acres. My free-ranging flocks (note plural) can will forage as much as 6 acres when close to a hundred birds are running about. Keeping feeding stations out keeps them tight. Insufficient feed means birds cover a much larger area than six acres. Feed need not be complete nutritionally. The confined flocks during the warm production season are still what most would call free-range since they have areas ranging from 1/4 to one acre to forage over. Keeping the birds on my property is not just about the fencing and feeding stations. I can direct bird activities by managing for cover patches which most people doing the free-range bit do not seem to have a handle on. That needs to change.

My coop and run are in the corner of our 50 acres near the neighbor's garage and house. We put up a fence on the property line, through the trees, to keep everyone where they belong. Steel fence posts, 'goat fence' woven wire, and hot tape on the top. It's about five feet tall, and very effective. The flock ranges near it, but very rarely does even one bird invade their property. Their dogs don't visit the chickens either, a win for all of us. Your neighbors are justified in having crockpot chicken dinners; they've been very kind so far. Mary

777funk said:

I liked them going into the woods. We rarely had predator problems there. They got a great meal of bugs under dead wood, leaves, etc. The problem was they went further than I liked and onto neighboring property. I figure as far as the woods ranging, they will go where the food is best and that was in the woods. The next property over unfortunately looks just like ours and isn't far away. It takes them about 3 minutes to cover that ground and be on the adjacent property.

I'm not sure of a way to stop them at the fence line of the next property (which is obviously where the problem starts). Maybe the electric poultry netting along that fence line???

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It wouldn't even need to be electric to keep the chickens where they belong. They're not too hard to fence in. Get some steel posts - step-in or T-posts, put them in the ground along that property line. You can put up goat fence, chicken wire, plastic deer fence - just about anything they won't walk through and hopefully they're too heavy to fly over - and keep them where they belong. I know - it's nice for them to range and go in the woods and get bugs, but keeping them home is more important.