6ft fence

[Bonescanner]

Still new to this. I have four hens that I have had for about a month. I’ve kept them in their coop/run so far. Their run is in a section of my yard the is surrounded by a 6ft wooden fence. I wanted to start letting the out the run to roam every once in a while when I’m at home. Do I need to worry about them flying over the fence? Should I clip wings?

 

[Duck Lover88]

What kind of hens are they?

 

[aart]

It depends....
If there is lots for them to forage in your yard they will not likely jump the fence.
If you only let them out once in a while, they may not get bored fast.
If they can't see what on the other side of the fence it's less likely they will jump the fence.
But 6' is pretty easy for most birds to fly up to, then over.
Clipping wings might help, or might not.
Putting wires above top edge of fence can keep them from landing there and may dissuade them from trying again. A foot high floppy run of chicken wire can do the same.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old are they (are they still chicks) and what breeds? In feet or meters, what is the rough area of that fenced area, how big is it? What does that wooden fence look like, there can be different designs for a wooden fence. Is it solid and how wide is the top?

There is a big difference in what a chicken can do versus what it will do. My full-sized adult chickens have no problem flying up to a 5' high roost and by watching them it is clear they could go a lot higher if they needed to. Yet I keep them confined in a 4' high electric netting. Occasionally when there is conflict, usually with adolescent cockerels, one gets trapped against that fence and goes vertical to escape. They can fly over that fence but unless they get trapped and panic, they don't. If they do fly over they usually don't know to just fly back in.

Where are they sleeping? If thy are still chicks they might be still sleeping on the ground. Once they are sleeping on the roosts at night they normally return there every night. Even if they are sleeping on the ground they normally return there every night. But when they transition from sleeping on the ground to roosting they may not roost where you want them to. Instead of the roosts that might be on top of the coop, in a tree, on that fence, or somewhere else. The majority of the time they will move to the roosts but you often see threads on here where the chicks are sleeping somewhere else. It happens.

Chickens like to perch during the day, let alone roost at night. A common way a chicken escapes a tall fence is, if the top of that fence looks like a fun place to perch or roost, they fly up there. Who knows what side of the fence they will hop down on? If the top of that wooden fence looks like a good place to land they might try flying up there. If it does not look like a good place to land they won't. If the fence is solid so they can't see the other side they are not going to try to fly over it. Even with my see-through electric netting mine don't try to fly over it, they accidentally do occasionally when they panic. Clipping the wings won't help much when they panic. By flapping their wings they can practically walk up the fence for quite a height.

Usually grown hens are not going to get into pecking order fights or have conflicts that will cause them to panic. Chicks, even pullets, might as they mature but really not that often, especially when they have room. If you have cockerels that changes a bit or with a rooster a hen may get desperate if she wants to escape his advances. The more room they have the less likely that is to happen. I was able to practically stop my cockerel problem by avoiding sharp corners and narrow areas.

Usually a 6' fence works great to contain them, with the potential problem of them flying up to perch if the top is solid. That generally doesn't happen that often, especially if they have other places to perch. A trick to stop them perching up there is to attach a section of wire mesh to the top of the fence that is stiff enough to stand up 6" to a foot (15 to 30 cm). That stops it from looking like a good place to land. I've done that and it's not that hard to do and it does not look that bad. I used 2" x 4" welded wire because that's what I had extra but hardware cloth or other wire mesh will work too.

An advantage in putting a reasonably flexible wire mesh up there, especially a foot or more in height, is that if a climbing predator tries to climb over that fencing will bend back over it and make it really difficult for it to go over the top.

If it were me I would not clip wings, though you can if you wish. I'd turn them loose about an hour before their normal bedtime and see what they do. Odds are they will return to their normal sleeping place but if they don't you are there to help them out.

Good luck!