Is this enough for their safety?

[MegaChickens]

We got rid of our last rooster that was supposed to be a hen. Out of our 9 pullets, 4 turned out to be boys that we had to relocate, and two vanished. We have three girls left and are planning to add more soon but have decided to make other arrangements before than. We only plan on having hens and without the roo we have decided to shorten their amount of free range time since we live in a very wooded area. We put a large enclosure around their coop opening for a closed in pen area that is about 4' high. Is that enough to keep them in when we arent home? They are Orpingtons so they are very large and I havent seen them fly over 1'.

 

[wlbaker3]

I have seen my chickens (including an Orp) go over my 8' fence. They don't do it all at once, though. They figured out how to hop up on one object after another, until they made their way high enough to get over the fence. But as long as there's nothing around for them to "leapfrog" up to an escape, 4' should be good, I think.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Our chickens have a chicken tractor which gives them about 3 feet of space from ground to the bottom of the upper level of the tractor. (hoping that makes sense) Ours are quite content. At least they seem so. We let them free range in our yard only when we can closely watch over them. (lots of predators here) They love to run around and only jump up lap height so far:>

 

[kacklinkelly]

OOPS I may have mis understood. Is the top of the fence open?

 

[MegaChickens]

Yeah the top is open, but in their run there is a low pine tree and other trees around it to block from sky view. We may plant another low bush in their or a poultry net over top if need be.

 

[donrae]

It may keep your chickens in but you'll have hens continue to "vanish" as it sounds like an all-you-can-eat-buffet for raccoons.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with the above post, everything loves to eat chickens, and what will keep chickens in, WON"T keep predators out. Once predators have found you, well, they will be back.....(once I had a coon leave a note, asking for BBQ sauce, he was tired of eating them plain

If two have vanished, you have predators. Without a roo, or even with a roo, you are going to have problems, and a four foot fence is nothing. Need chicken wire on the inside, and a heavy duty chainlink on the outside. needs to be totally enclosed. I lost way too many chickens till I got this kind of set up.

MrsK

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

My chickens use the top of the 4 ft chain link as a perch. They can easily fly out if they want, or they jump up and then down. The only way to keep them in for sure, and to keep predators out is to put hardware cloth or another type of heavy guage wire on top of the run. I don't have a lot of daytime predators but once in a while I still lose a hen to a hawk.