Come home my wayward hens.... :/ Help!

Get some bird netting and cover the top of the fence.

You can try clipping feathers on ONE wing (feathers ONLY) but in my experience that is no guarantee. Some of them will find their way out anyway.

You really need to cover your pen to keep them in. Tractor Supply sells bird netting, I think. It should be on their website.

 

I know you're frustrated with your neighbor's lack of tolerance, but please do consider how we feel when it is a neighbor's dog or cat who won't stay in their own yard -- we think of that neighbor as inconsiderate and irresponsible.

Clipping wings might help, but some breeds seem to be natural pole vaulters -- and where there's a will there's a way. Rozzie makes a very good suggestion regarding bird netting -- it's very cheap. I've paid as little as $8 for a 14'x14' piece. Good luck in your endeavor to keep your hens safe and your neighbor happy.

Jenny

 

My clipped wing hens could still fly up about 8 feet to perch on the top of an arbor I have.

They are lightweight mediteranean hens.........my big "fatties" wouldn't have a chance of getting over a 6 foot fence. They can ALL make it 3-4 feet if they want to, fat ones included. clipped wings or not.

 

Maybe if you give them thier own birdseed feeder or one of those maggot can things that hang from the tree that the maggots drop out onto a plate, your yard would be more attractive than the nieghbor's. You will probably have to set up a fence though. I think they could hop up on top of a 3 ft fence even with thier wings clipped. I have a 3 ft roost in one of the runs and the hens just hop up there without flying. I think 5 or 6 ft would be better.

 

Quote:You could put it all together temporarily with zip ties. A big container of those only costs a few dollars at Walmart or Lowes.

 

Zip ties rock.....you ought to see the top of both runs. It looks like it is growing something! But safety first. My chickens used to try and roost on the top bar of my fence until we got the top on it. Couple of trips out there to shut the door and finding chickens roosting on top will help get the top on the run pretty quickly.

 

I have a barred rock, a Rhode Island red, two EEs, a mutt pullet, and a wellie. They were quite the prolific flyers for a while. Wing clipping seems to have taken care of the problem, and in the 5 months since we first clipped them, not a single bird has left the backyard.

 

I don't have an answer, I am in the same boat.
My 4 young hens prefer the neighbors manicured yard to our natural woods. I was just over there rounding them up with a pink umbrella, and it is not so easy herding hens!

I am thinking of rigging up deer net along the property line, which would also keep her yard men from blowing her leaves into our woods! If the net is 7' high will they still scale it?
(or go around it....)