however I want them to be able to protect themselves ! They are very young still.
A post earlier said to put chicken wire on top of fence. That way they think they can't get out. I've never tried it but let me know if it works. Our neighbors have lots of cats !! So I need them to stay at home
Keep me posted , I'm curious what the difference is clipping one vs. two. Good luck!
The trick is to have fence post higher than the fence. On the bottom of the post put some 1 inch or other thick wire that will help discourage predators. Maybe a three foot high section. Above that use some 2 inch chicken or hex wire say four foot tall. Use hog ringers, J hooks, or bailing wire to join the two edges. Then there's another two or three feet of fence post with no wire. I don't think hens see well. They'll survey the fence and wire and I think the hens assume that the fence wire goes all the way to the top of the post. That will deter maybe 98% of all game hen escape attempts as long as the wire looks like it is at least 8 - 10 foot tall. I don't know if you'll try this, but I that know it works but then again I had a fence post plantation covered up with red cedar, some of it 30 foot tall. Some of these posts are still good over 42 years later.
When you clip both wings a hen can still fly. This is not a case of two working better than one. With two clipped wings a hen can fly almost as well as she can with both sets of wing feathers fully intact. When only one wing is clipped however she is only able to fly in small tight circles, like a crippled duck, or a zero-turn-lawn-mower.
