300yds of barb wire fence line between our 10 acres and the neighbor's 10 acres. Want to keep 100 ch

[777funk]

We had a huge problem with our 100 heritage breed chickens crossing the barbed wire fence into our neighbors property last year. They loved his garden. This year we'd like to keep them on our property. Obviously barbed wire is not a deterrent since they can easily crawl right under. We didn't know what a problem this would be until it started happening. The birds stayed in one half of the woods which was nice (we have two 2-3 acre sections of woods and similar in pasture). So this year I'd like to stop them in the one 2-3 acre patch of woods. Here were my thoughts:

1. Orange snow fence to line the barbed wire fence (probably wouldn't hold up long)
2. Electric fence at the crawl height of the barbed wire fence (they could possibly fly over the top of the 5 strand barb wire fence).
3. Chicken wire to line the barbed wire (might just fly over)

Any thoughts?

I'd like to keep the neighbor with a parallel 10 acres from getting fed up with our birds this year. I found them to be a GREAT tick solution so I do want them free ranging again this year.

 

[bluefreeze]

I am really anxious to see the answer to this question as I have the exact same problem, save for the garden issue, I had a suspicion that they were going under the barbed wire, into an unused pasture, and laying eggs! I could never find the eggs anywhere else...the pasture is tall, full of thistle, no way i was going in...not to mention one hen needed to wear an apron all summer (rooster's favorite girl) and she would snag and get it caught, I would find it hanging on the fence, her getting sunburn, a real mess! One thing we do is keep our chickens feathers one wing slightly trimmed. It allows then to sorta fly but never higher than 4 feet or so before they give up. They free range but if we are out of town we prefer them to be safe in their large yard with 6 foot fences... We don't have much money so chicken wire is going to be my guess for us and maybe for you, then keep their wing trimmed, any feed back? thx

 

[Amina]

Whether chickens would fly over a fence depends on the breed of chicken (how heavy they are), and how high the fence is. But yeah, barbed wire is not going to work here. Chicken wire or the plastic orange snow fence should both work well for you, depending on their height. I'm not knowledgeable enough about electric fence to comment about it.

What breed of chickens are these? If they're buff orpingtons or a breed of similar weight, a 4' or 5' fence should work just fine for you. If they're not quite that large, you might be able to keep them contained by clipping the feathers on one wing, and also having the fence. If they're slender and athletic like leghorns for example, then even with clipping the wing feathers, I doubt you can contain them with a fence.

 

[bobbi-j]

You got a lot of good advice in your last thread about your chickens getting into your neighbor's garden. It was mentioned that electric fence isn't really ideal for keeping chickens in - especially a single strand. They're not like larger livestock which can be kept in that way. Your best bet - as was advised previously - would be a barrier of some sort. The orange snow fence could be an option, poultry netting is another fairly inexpensive option. It sounds like your main goal is to keep the chickens in. If you were trying to keep predators out, then you'd need something a little more secure than snow fence or poultry netting. That's where a few strands of electric wire could help. It's hard to know if they would fly over the fence or not. If it happens, you may need to look into clipping their wings. One thing about the snow fence, they may not see the garden next door.

 

[donrae]

You got a lot of good advice in your last thread about your chickens getting into your neighbor's garden. It was mentioned that electric fence isn't really ideal for keeping chickens in - especially a single strand. They're not like larger livestock which can be kept in that way. Your best bet - as was advised previously - would be a barrier of some sort. The orange snow fence could be an option, poultry netting is another fairly inexpensive option. It sounds like your main goal is to keep the chickens in. If you were trying to keep predators out, then you'd need something a little more secure than snow fence or poultry netting. That's where a few strands of electric wire could help. It's hard to know if they would fly over the fence or not. If it happens, you may need to look into clipping their wings. One thing about the snow fence, they may not see the garden next door.

great advice here.

 

[centrarchid]

Consider a combination of electrified poultry netting and clipping wings. To keep fencing cost down and control over grazing make so flock is confined to a 1 to 2 acre with a perimeter that can be moved. Also make so roost setup is mobile.

Comment: 100 birds is too many for sustained free-ranging where you might otherwise expect birds not to challenge perimeters. I do more than 100 on six acres but use poultry netting for some and make extensive use of feeding stations around cover to keep birds away from perimeter that is not poultry tight.

 

[bluefreeze]

Yes, good comment! I have 15 birds on 6 acres surrounded by limitless acres a farmland and only 2 neighbors within 10 miles, so I don't worry too much about them, and they rarely go off of our property for more than a few minutes, save for the small pasture they would sit in....100 birds is a lot so I guess that would be a bit more tricky!