Can I build a fence tall enough for my turkeys???

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

I have 12 of the sweetest turkey poults!!! They are so much more affectionate than my chicken chicks ever were! So we have a six foot tall wooden panel fence right now. I realize that when the turkeys are all grown up, they will be able to perch on or jump over the fence. Our neighbor has big dogs so I really want to keep our turkeys on our side of the fence. If I add four feet of lattice to the top edge of my fence, making it ten feet tall, will that keep my turkeys on my side????

 

[R2elk]

I have 12 of the sweetest turkey poults!!! They are so much more affectionate than my chicken chicks ever were! So we have a six foot tall wooden panel fence right now. I realize that when the turkeys are all grown up, they will be able to perch on or jump over the fence. Our neighbor has big dogs so I really want to keep our turkeys on our side of the fence. If I add four feet of lattice to the top edge of my fence, making it ten feet tall, will that keep my turkeys on my side????

Adding additional height to the fence will not stop the turkeys from perching on the top of the fence. The object is to make the fence unattractive as a perching site. One method of doing that is to put up an anti perching device.

http://www.wildlife-control.com/anti-perching-devices/

My turkeys are staying in very well since I put up a 6' high 2"x4" welded wire fence. Since there is no top rail they don't try to perch on the top of the fence and therefore never get down on the wrong side of the fence. It does help to have plenty of attractive perching/roosting sites inside the fenced area.

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

THANK YOU R2ELK!!!!! I never thought about an anti-perching device, but that makes perfect sense! And thanks also for posting the link- great info!

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

Quote R2ELK: Do you mind posting a photo of your fence? I can't quite get a mental picture. I still have more fence to build to fully enclose our giant turkey area =) ...

 

[retlaw]

You can also put bird netting over the top to prevent them flying out.
I bought some used from a fish net supplier.

 

[R2elk]

Quote R2elk: Here is just a portion of my perimeter fence. This particular portion encloses the guinea pen which is on the outside of the area that contains the turkeys and chickens.

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

Thanks for the photo! I can see now what you meant by a 2x4 fence with no place to perch. That's awesome! Gorgeous property too!

 

[RuzichFamily]

I have a 4' woven wire fence (regular farm fence) and although they could fly over easily and perch up on 6' perches I made for them to roost on, they've never left the yard.

 

[jbugw]

We have a fence similar to R2elk but its only 4' with 4 rows of electric fence wire- not charged just the wire itself. Total height is about 8'. The main reason we went so high is because of our chickens. They do fly over shorter fences. I agree as long as they can't perch they usually stay in. Ours would roost on the the old fence even though the wood on top wasn't really strong enough to support them. But when it came time to come down in the morning they almost always came down on the wrong side of the fence. We also put up netting before we built the new fence and it was a mess. They flew into it and ended up tearing it all down. We also had a guinea get stuck in it. We will be adding a lean to type thing to our barn with roof for their night pen just to be safe. They can range with the chickens during the day but we'll put them in a smaller roof covered lean to for the night. Our turkeys have went to visit our neighbors when they came down on the wrong side. They pooped all over his porch and dog kennels. He was not happy, not happy at all. We want to be sure to avoid any more visits from him. Plus they like to perch on cars when they get out, I don't even want to imagine what they might do if they got on top of my neighbors brand new car. Silly turkeys- I caught one inside my car on day. I was unloading groceries and left my passenger side door open and when I came out the booger was sitting in the passenger seat. Yeah, went to work in the new fence the very next day.

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

I have a 4' woven wire fence (regular farm fence) and although they could fly over easily and perch up on 6' perches I made for them to roost on, they've never left the yard.

That is very encouraging! I truly hope that ours never leave the yard! So wait, do they not use the perches that you made??? Because that is my next project.

We have a fence similar to R2elk but its only 4' with 4 rows of electric fence wire- not charged just the wire itself. Total height is about 8'. The main reason we went so high is because of our chickens. They do fly over shorter fences. I agree as long as they can't perch they usually stay in. Ours would roost on the the old fence even though the wood on top wasn't really strong enough to support them. But when it came time to come down in the morning they almost always came down on the wrong side of the fence. We also put up netting before we built the new fence and it was a mess. They flew into it and ended up tearing it all down. We also had a guinea get stuck in it. We will be adding a lean to type thing to our barn with roof for their night pen just to be safe. They can range with the chickens during the day but we'll put them in a smaller roof covered lean to for the night. Our turkeys have went to visit our neighbors when they came down on the wrong side. They pooped all over his porch and dog kennels. He was not happy, not happy at all. We want to be sure to avoid any more visits from him. Plus they like to perch on cars when they get out, I don't even want to imagine what they might do if they got on top of my neighbors brand new car. Silly turkeys- I caught one inside my car on day. I was unloading groceries and left my passenger side door open and when I came out the booger was sitting in the passenger seat. Yeah, went to work in the new fence the very next day.

TOO FUNNY! unfortunately if my sweetheart silly turkeys end up on the wrong side of the fence then they will meet a hungry big dog