4' fence...what can we do?

[pattyfan]

I live in a city so our chickens have very limited space. They have maybe a 22' by 22' place where they stay. We also were letting them into the back yard out of that area, but we didn't have a fence and they were destroying part of the garden and even getting onto the sidewalk. So we built a fence. We built it 4' tall. It worked great. Then my husband took one of the chickens into the other side of the fence, where we didn't want them to be. He basically forgot. So now one of the chickens flies up and over the fence. If we keep her penned up for a while, will she forget what's on the other side and stop flying over? If we put some boards up just lying against the fence so that it's too tall for her to fly over, will she stop once we take those boards down? I'm looking obviously for an easy solution. Thanks in advance.

Kevin

 

[Cindy in PA]

Cover the top with deer netting.

 

[pattyfan]

How would that stop her from jumping on top of the fence?

 

[mowin]

If you cover the entire 21'x21' with deer netting, they can't fly over the fence. You can make the center a little higher by using 6' poles to support the netting.
If you're in a area with snow, it can be a challenge to keep it from collapsing.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Do you have their wings clipped? I read your post, but I've been known to miss things

 

[pattyfan]

Oh sorry. I see the misunderstanding now. I wasn't clear in my original post. They don't fly out of the pen. When I let them out of there, for more freedom and more fun, there is a 12' x 4' gate. They weren't going over before. I'd rather not clip their wings. I may try hanging deer netting over the gate if I can figure it out. And then hopefully after a while they'll forget and not try to go over the fence. A while ago I came out wearing a sombrero and they freaked out. If I put that up, will they stay afraid of that or do they get used to things? Thanks everyone for your help.

Kevin

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

They won’t forget, chickens are very smart you know. The best thing you could do is make it so they cant go over it, as that would be the only way to deter them. They can also learn how to fly with clipped wings so that doesn’t really work a lot of the time.

They can fly about 6 feet high so I would make the fence, gate higher if you can.

 

[mowin]

Oh sorry. I see the misunderstanding now. I wasn't clear in my original post. They don't fly out of the pen. When I let them out of there, for more freedom and more fun, there is a 12' x 4' gate. They weren't going over before. I'd rather not clip their wings. I may try hanging deer netting over the gate if I can figure it out. And then hopefully after a while they'll forget and not try to go over the fence. A while ago I came out wearing a sombrero and they freaked out. If I put that up, will they stay afraid of that or do they get used to things? Thanks everyone for your help.

Kevin

Ok. I get it. Add some 4' 2x2s to the the gate and stretch deer netting across. Gate will now be 8' high.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you top the existing fence with maybe 1' or so of floppier fencing (deer netting would work) it may be enough to deter them from jumping out, as chickens generally fly up, land, and then fly down. By giving them a floppy/hard-to-land-on edge, that may be enough to stop them from wanting to fly up in the first place.