One of the solutions we have used to keep them from "flying" is to clip their wings just like you would a pet parrot. Just catch the chicken, and trim off her 1st 6 primaries with a pair of scissors, leaving about 1" of the trimmed feather extending from under the coverlet feathers. It does not hurt the chicken at all (just make sure you don't clip a blood feather or trim her back so far as to cut her actual wing), and it effectively makes it impossible for them to fly up to high places, or over fences, hence a lesser chance of escapes.
We have a picket fenced back yard about 38-40" high, our girls are usually loose most of the day, and we have had minimal trouble with escapes since we implemented the wing trim solution. Occasionally, before we started trimming them, one would jump the fence but each time we would hear her crying for her friends and found her trying to squeeze through the fence to get back in. There were two more instances where new hens brought home from the county fair jumped the fence; After searching for a bit, I found one taking a nap in some tall grass just in front of the fence, and the other one hiding under my neighbors bushes less than 20' from my property. Neither seemed inclined to go far, and both cackled happily on being returned to the flock. They both got their wings trimmed immediately, and we have had no problems since then.
In terms of the free ranging, I have occasionally found our girls roosting in the hemlocks which shade their run if the wind blows the coop door shut, and I have one banty cochin who prefers sleeping on top of my tomato plants to sleeping with her friends. She is low dog on the totem pole though b/c she is very small and submissive, so that may have something to do with it. Other than that, all our peeps put themselves to bed every night, and when it is human bedtime, we just go out, do a head count and close the doors to keep predators out. As long as the hen recognizes "home" she will go there when she believes it's her bedtime, unless of course, she can't get in, then you are likely to find her somewhere in the immediate vicinity...like within a 10' radius of the coop.
Good luck!
We have a picket fenced back yard about 38-40" high, our girls are usually loose most of the day, and we have had minimal trouble with escapes since we implemented the wing trim solution. Occasionally, before we started trimming them, one would jump the fence but each time we would hear her crying for her friends and found her trying to squeeze through the fence to get back in. There were two more instances where new hens brought home from the county fair jumped the fence; After searching for a bit, I found one taking a nap in some tall grass just in front of the fence, and the other one hiding under my neighbors bushes less than 20' from my property. Neither seemed inclined to go far, and both cackled happily on being returned to the flock. They both got their wings trimmed immediately, and we have had no problems since then.
In terms of the free ranging, I have occasionally found our girls roosting in the hemlocks which shade their run if the wind blows the coop door shut, and I have one banty cochin who prefers sleeping on top of my tomato plants to sleeping with her friends. She is low dog on the totem pole though b/c she is very small and submissive, so that may have something to do with it. Other than that, all our peeps put themselves to bed every night, and when it is human bedtime, we just go out, do a head count and close the doors to keep predators out. As long as the hen recognizes "home" she will go there when she believes it's her bedtime, unless of course, she can't get in, then you are likely to find her somewhere in the immediate vicinity...like within a 10' radius of the coop.
Good luck!
