My Wandering Wyandottes

[SilberHenne]

Any tips on keeping my pullets from hopping the fence and visiting the neighbor's yard? I like to have them free ranging on my property, but lately a couple have gotten brave and I don't want anyone thinking a free dinner walked into their yard. I have a privacy fence, so they are flying 6 ft up in the air to get over. It's like that movie Chicken Run, except they know they're spoiled so they come back when I call them.

Do I have to fatten them up?

 

[SueT]

clip wings?

 

[JedJackson]

How old are they? If they're young, they will probably fatten up enough in time so that they can't hop the fence. It's pretty unusual for a full grown Wyandotte to fly that high.

You could clip their wings, but I see that as a last resort because birds with clipped wings are much easier targets for predators. And it doesn't look very good, either.

 

[bobbi-j]

Either clip their wings or build them a covered run to keep them in. If they are young, keep them in a run until they are too heavy to fly over the fence.

 

[SilberHenne]

They are only 6 months old. At what age should I be expecting fat hens?

I thought of clipping their wings, but do not want to handicap them as we do have large predators like bears and coyotes.

 

[ShellyBlanco]

They will still be able to move pretty quickly with clipped wings. We had to clip our Leghorns because they were going high up into trees at night and we had that fight for about a week. They can still fly, just not so high. Follow the angle of their wing nicely and it won't look too choppy. There are many videos on how to do it properly.

 

[SueT]

My friend clipped the wings of her young pullets who are in a 40" electric fence, and they then grew up to believe they couldn't fly over and she no longer has to trim them.

 

[SilberHenne]

Okay, thank you! I will clip their wings and hopefully by their next molt they will be big enough not to need it again. I feel it is a lesser evil than either locking them up or letting them get lost or injured.

 

[SilberHenne]

Update: we clipped the right wing of all 4 suspects and they immediately hopped the fence again in what appears to be an elaborate FU. The two chickens who we didn't clip are hanging out at the back door. Everyone else is gone!

 

[bobbi-j]

You're going to have to keep them in a covered run, then. I don't clip my chickens' wings because they free range, and I don't have to keep them in anywhere. It didn't matter. Much of my flock was wiped out by a coyote in one afternoon last year. I hope your wanderers return.