Clipped Wings & Fenced Yard

[Natrgrl326]

I have 4 chickens (2 months old) that I would love to let free range around my fenced in backyard. I live in a neighborhood, so I don't want to risk them getting over the fence & creating a problem, so my plan was to clip their wings. The fence is 4ft high....will they still be able to get over the fence?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It depends on the breed and the individual chicken. But in all likelihood, if they see something they want to forage in, they may go over. I had a Jersey Giant that would go over a 6' fence to eat tomatoes in the garden.
I only raise Penedesencas now and they won't go over a 3' fence, roosters stay inside their 2' fence. Not that they can't fly, they just prefer to stay home.

 

[RWise]

I had a girl gifted to me, she had both wings clipped heavily, she could still go up 8 feet to get on a tree limb.
IF you clip wings, only do 1 wing per bird and only the light tips, the goal is to set them off balance which discourages flight.
IF there is something in the yard next door they need/want, and it's not in your yard, they will go after what they need/want. The more space they have the better.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What kind of fence do you have? If they are unable to see a landing place they are unlikely to just fly over.

A big problem is that chickens like to perch. If the top of your fence looks like a good place to perch, they might fly up there just for fun. Who knows which side they will hop down on? If it is the wrong side they usually don't know to fly back home.

Another potential problem is when one gets trapped against a fence. This might happen in pecking order/dominance fights or maybe a female is trying to get away from an amorous male. When they are desperate and panicked, they can pretty much walk up a fence with or without their wings clipped, flapping desperately. It's easy for them to come down on the wrong side.

Basically if they want out bad enough they can probably get out. The trick is to make them not want to. I keep chickens in a 4' high electric netting without clipping wings. They can easily fly over that if the wish, but the only time I have any problems with them getting out is when one gets trapped against the fence and wants desperately to get away. This is almost always when I have a bunch of cockerels in the flock, it is almost never a female. The top of my netting is not a perch.

So what are the tricks to keep them in? If your fence has a solid top rail or other likely place to perch (posts can be a perch) you can attach stiff wire at the top so it stands above the top by 6" to 12". The top no longer looks like a good place top perch. Don't forget gates.

I can configure my electric netting any way I want, you are stuck with your backyard fence. I found that if I avoid sharp corners (90 degrees is OK but don't go sharper) and I avoid long narrow sections, they don't get trapped against the fence or at least hardly ever. I once configured a narrow section 10' to 15' wide and maybe 20' long before my netting widened out. I was finding 1 or 2 cockerels a day outside the fence. I reconfigured that to more of square and hardly ever had a cockerel get out. If you don't have cockerels the chances of one getting trapped against the fence drops a lot.

Hopefully you can get something out of this that helps.

 

[townchicks]

My EE's could, but don't, with one exception. I knocked over the shade umbrella in their yard, and in the ensuing panic, one went right over the 4 ft fence. I doubt my RIR would even try. My fence is just a cheap "decorative" panel fence that doesn't provide a place to land on. (inside a fully fenced backyard). I know they could, because they sometimes fly to the top of their small coop, that is about the same height. I think it is the flimsiness of the fence that discourages them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Like ridgerunner and townchicks said, a solid top rail vs. a flimsy landing spot makes a big difference.
If your fence has a solid top rail attach an 18+" strip of wire fencing to the top angled in and that may solve any potential issues.

 

[centrarchid]

@Natrgrl326, I can provide directions on how to clip wings so they will not be able clear, top or clamber up a 36" fence regardless if it provides a suitable perch or not. Most people are not clipping close enough for fear of causing harm. Additionally, if unilateral clipping fails, the do bilateral / both wings. You birds are juvenile so will require some repeating of process in coming months and is is likely some blood feather will be cut even if you do not clip close enough to be effective.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Even with clipped wings chickens are great problem solvers and anything too clost to the fence or that is scalable can be used as a jumping off place to get to the top of the fence and then jump over or more correctly jump down from the top of the fence. Unfortunately a chickens' problem solving skills were never consulted ahead of time to see how the wayward hen was going to get back over your fence once she escaped. I call this a chickens' Scarlet O'Hara moment or "I'll think about that tomorrow"

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

Here is an interesting video that is relevant to this topic.
[video]

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

With the aforementioned video in mind, I'd think that chickens can overcome more fencing than they get credit for, it's just a question if they want to.

I don't have the best example, but I built a small fence around my yard just to keep my birds off of the concrete so they don't poop every where. All of my chickens can easily jump to the top of the fence, and when they were smaller, go through the fence. I have a raised bed garden that is the same height, and they all fly up there every single day. However, since I have two Pekin ducks that are the "alphas" of the flock, since the ducks can't go over the fence, the chickens don't either. Even though the chickens go into the garden when the ducks can't.