chickens seriously crossing the road

[happyfeet]

How do i detour my chickens from crossing the road?

We live in the country, which i thought would not be a problem if we had chickens that free ranged, and my chickens keep crossing the road. We had a lovely visit from the police today and they said that if my chickens even go near the road (which is a back road) they will confiscate them and destroy them. Good luck to them, because my rooster takes a few hens with him on his little journeys. My rooster is the meanest rooster i have ever known and he will attack anybody that comes within 20 feet of him or his ladies. i just dont have the heart to kill him. So my dillema is how do i keep them out of the road with out penning them up. i just hate things locked up and i hope there is a way they can still free range. They have 6 acres to run and they think the grass is greener on the other side!!

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dacjohns]

You're going to have to fence them in. They will go where they want.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Geez, that is tough. My chickens sometimes cross the road (our house is one side, barn on the other). I've tried to discourage it, have occasionally lost a chicken to a car, but never got a visit from police!

We had two geese that thought they should come to the front door if they thought it was time for feeding! My little corgi taught them that resulted in a quick trip to the pond with a corgi hot on their heels, so problem solved.

Maybe throw some additional scratch up the OTHER direction from the road, to encourage them to range that direction?

Good luck.

 

[mrs.67]

I agree your going to need a fence. That will also protect them from being attacked from other animals.
I have learned the hard way chickens are on the bottom of the food chain.
I have to say that the police must be really bored in your area to worry about chickens on the road.

 

[Dana]

I hope you don't let your rooster attack the police, they could just shoot him. I agree that you should fence the chickens away from the road, or else you might not have them for long.

 

[Beekissed]

How about a single line of fence for about a 200 ft. across the front of your property. I had to run fence across the front of mine to keep the birds out of the road. The other fencing around my property is just woven wire for fencing livestock. My birds sometimes go into these adjacent fields but do not go into the road, even though they could go through the woven wire again on the neighbor's road frontage.

I say make it more difficult for them to reach the road....erect the fence.

 

[happyfeet]

i have had my chickens for four years now, not a smooshed chicken yet. my chickens free range which produces much nicer eggs and much happier chickens. i dont have all the feather picking problems like i see here. that is why i really dont want to keep them penned up. they have a barn(a whole beautiful barn) to themselves that i lock up every night so nothing eats them. and this may be aweful, but if Victor(my nasty rooster) wants to have a stand off with the cop, good luck mr police guy, he jumps 6 feet in the air, he got my husband in the face one, or if the cop shoots him, sorry victor, i have scars that i can remember you by!!!

 

[purr]

you do realize that it's not only the cops but if someone is just walking down the road and your rooster attacks you would be legally liable for any damage , pain and suffering they could sue your homeowners insurance