Can not get the chickens to stay out of the neighbors barn.

[meghan713]

Tried chicken wire, they fly over it. tried moving the coop farther from the neighbors' barn, and it didn't help at all. and I want free-rangers but they will not stay in our yard. in the morning they all sneak over there while we are all at school/work and won't come back until later in the day, and a couple hens even started nesting over there. The neighbors keep goats and sheep in said barn and they don't appreciate our poultry wandering over there. I wanted to expand my flock in the spring and I feel I need to tackle this problem before getting more chicks to potentially follow the first flock's lead and hang out at the neighbors' all day.
Help?

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
Well it appears that what you 'want' doesn't coincide with what you need to do to keep your neighbors happy.

Get some poultry netting and cover your run to keep your birds on your property.

Jim

 

[Chicken Chat]

Do you have a fence between your property and your neighbors? I wasn't sure reading your post.
If so, sounds like you need to make it a lot higher. Saying that, however, I realize the difficulty. I had guineas for a few years and I could not keep them fenced in. They were even on my house roof!

 

[Katy]

Build them a run with a roof or netting to keep them in. Sounds like free-ranging won't be an option for you since you have close neighbors.

 

[silkydragon]

there are some breeds less likely to range far get somekind of crested breed and they would probly stay close since they cant see good

 

[TeamChaos]

The draw for my chickens to hang out in our own barn are two things- 1. the straw and hay bales and 2. the sand/dirt floor. It's a fun place to get out of the wind and scratch through a few bales

and the dirt floor is perfect for digging out a wallow and dust bathing. Is it possible that by providing some of the things they enjoy in the barn, you can lessen the desire to go AWOL?

 

[centrarchid]

Keeping poultry from drifting is very difficult if your coops are too close to neighbors barn that is otherwise not occupied by chickens. A barn is often a preferred nesting site / roost to trees or coop and as such is a powerfull attractant, especially if they grain feed their animals. You did not indicate breed you have. Some breeds can be confined by fencing alone, others not.

How does your property away from neighbors barn look? Could it be modified to provide a more attractive day roost? How far away is neighbors barn from property line?

Once a bird decides it likes a place, it i difficult to stop it from going there short of confinement to runs / coops. If neighbor had a dog that chased chickens, that would be another story.

I have in past had flocks that could be confined in respect to roosting, nesting and foraging to areas around a given outbuilding. Part of trick was placement of food, water and cover as well as rival flock(s) associated with other buildings.

 

[meghan713]

Quote:
I do have a fence.
We covered it in chicken wire and made it a couple feet higher, they still manage to get through it/around it.

 

[meghan713]

Quote:
Actually, you're right, we have two crested chickens and they're the only ones who stay in our yard.

 

[silkydragon]

Quote:
Actually, you're right, we have two crested chickens and they're the only ones who stay in our yard.

lol awsome and i dont think silkies from hatcherys count as crested i have some with almost no feathers on there head