My chickens keep flying out of run

[Jojosine]

Hi all
Our chickens keep flying up on the fence and out of the run into the off-limit garden and it's driving me and my husband bonkers!

How high do we need to build the fence?
It is now 4ft (1.20m) and it has Alcatraz-style overhanging chicken wire on top. We also tried fixing a single steel thread across so that they couldn't land easily, but they still do. Fixing a roof ain't an option as the run is massive.

Or do you have any other tips apart from clipping their wings?

Cheers,

 

[townchicks]

You can get bird netting to put over the run. Make their run more interesting, who wouldn't want to leave a barren run to explore a garden? Young birds are better fliers, sometimes clipping the wings until they grow older and heavier will get them in the habit of staying in, although some breeds are good fliers any time. Try hanging heads of cabbage or lettuce, cut open pumpkins to peck at. Piles of leaves to scratch through can keep them busy for hours.

 

[Penpal]

You can add a leaning into the run wire at the top. Run a wire, two or three wires would be better, along the top, but make it so the wire is on the chicken side of the fence. Each wire should be a little higher than the fence. They can't figure it out and will keep hitting the wire. It doesn't need to be hot.

 

[Jojosine]

You can add a leaning into the run wire at the top. Run a wire, two or three wires would be better, along the top, but make it so the wire is on the chicken side of the fence. Each wire should be a little higher than the fence. They can't figure it out and will keep hitting the wire. It doesn't need to be hot.

Do you mean something like this: They still manage to get out

 

[Jojosine]

You can get bird netting to put over the run. Make their run more interesting, who wouldn't want to leave a barren run to explore a garden? Young birds are better fliers, sometimes clipping the wings until they grow older and heavier will get them in the habit of staying in, although some breeds are good fliers any time. Try hanging heads of cabbage or lettuce, cut open pumpkins to peck at. Piles of leaves to scratch through can keep them busy for hours.

To be fair they have got a massive area with grass and small trees, but it's currently winter so there are no leaves on the trees. I sometimes empty the weed bucket in their run. They like it right enough, but flatten it within 10 minutes after which they look for escape routes and help me with my weeding in the off-limit garden.

 

[Penpal]

Yes, I meant something like that. But, just the wires and the wires would end up farther away from the fence and therefore higher. They have trouble seeing the wires and keep flying up to fly over the fence instead of the extra wires. They hit a wire or two and can't figure it out.