Adventurous Hen

[Equest94]

I have three lovely hens. All are pretty friendly. They come when I call them, they eat out of my hand, one loves to cuddle...We have a nice size coop for them with a run, but still let them out to free range in our yard.

Now, the issue is one hen is starting to develop the tendency of wandering away. I have a pretty big property, rural area, neighbors are acres away. This little red finds her way houses down from our yard.

From what 'I know, chickens are flock animals, they like to stick together... she wanders off all by herself; the other two stick together, they stay on our property...

I don't know... I know chickens can be adventurous, they explore, find nice things to eat, look for nesting sites, but to go off on her own? Is this normal?

I'm worried she's going to really get lost one of these days, make her way to the road, or get eaten by something... Is there a way I can teach her to stay on our property? I hate to keep them locked up all day, especially since she's the only "trouble maker."

Any suggestions or other options?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Uppity Peon]

A rooster or a well trained herding dog could help. Other than that, a fence might be your best bet.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Hope that you'll figure out how to keep your hen from wandering off. Maybe you should call her Wanderer.

 

[Becky_H]

Seconding uppity -- get a rooster or a fence. I'd say dog, but really I don't trust them quite that much with prey animals.

 

[numamahen]

Not that this will completely keep her from wandering but we put up a fencing system for our chickens. We have 24 girls on our 1 acre lot just outside of a small town in Minnesota. We wanted to let them free range but we have dogs on all three sides (luckily they are all using invisible fence) and were afraid of wandering. So in the beginning they stayed close to the coop but our adventurous ones started working their way to the neighbors so we fence them in with deer fencing that we wove fiberglass garden stakes/poles (3/8th inch) through. Then we drove 10 inch long pvc piping level to the ground so we stick the poles into the pipe in the ground. When the DH wants to mow then we just roll up the fencing. So far it does a pretty good job. the DH works from home so he keeps an eye on the girls through out the day. If we are gone for a long time then they need to stay in the run.