Conflicting theories on if chickens will fly over my fence

[Churkenduse]

I fully plan on losing a bird or two occasionally to hawks. Its going to happen. I really don’t want to put wire over the top of the fence.

I am sorry you say this like it is ok. My friend watched her hen get carried off and it was not a nice sight.

I would cover the run, mine fly right over my 5 foot fence like it was a foot high, I went right out and put an overhead protector, why look for trouble. That is what you will get if you don't confine your flock.

What are the laws in your town, mine say I have to keep birds on my property or face having them taken away. So it may be more problems than you think.

Good luck with it,,,,

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Yes, the birds will be able to get out with 4' high fencing, even with their wings clipped. I would strongly suggest either making the fence MUCH taller, or covering it. How far is your neighbor's yard? If he has plants growing (hops) the chickens will most likely find their way over their and eat them, especially young plants.

Also, if you have a lot of chickens, it would be very impractical to clip their wings. The grow back after every molt.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[seafood]

OK...how about this idea. You ever see how some golf courses have a random set of wires over their smaller ponds to discourage geese from flying in settling on their grounds?

What if I ran small twine or wire in a random, criss crossed pattern from post to post. I am fairly certain that this would keep hawks OUT. Would this also discourage the chickens from flying out as they would not have easy flight paths to squeek through?

Netting our nice fenced in area is just not appealing.

Churkenduse: I think that to not plan/expect to lose chickens is being niave. I feel like I am taking the most "realistic" mindset and approach to this endeavor as possible.

 

[patandchickens]

Many people here have done that, with apparently some reasonable success, so it is probably worth trying. It will take a whole giant lotta twine on a 20x20 run, and the general view seems to be that you need the spaces between lines of twine to be at least somewhat smaller than the wingspan of the birds you're trying to keep out. Some people add CDs on the twine, as well (to flash in the sunlight).

Good luck,

Pat

 

[chickflick]

Some of my chickens have flown over my 6 ft high fence!! Depends on the breeds. All (except slikies) have flown over the 4 ft high chain link fence.

 

[Kaneke]

my two cents__

if you simply want to keep your flock IN, several badminton or volleyball nets could be secured over your run, without being unpleasantly obvious

a fishing net might serve the same purpose

you could make the "run cover" decorative by adding latticework or some sort of trellis

NONE of these would do much to discourage predators, of course

however, chickens are, basically, BIRDS, and birds want to fly ... they seem to have a strong impulse to get up as high as they can (which of course protects them in the wild)

best of luck to you

Candy

 

[TheFunnyFarm]

New to BYC and chickens
I am having problems with what size I should have the nest boxes and how many. (about 15 to 20 hens depending on what we cull) We have RIR ,SLW,LB and BA's All heavy breeds

 

[chickflick]

my nesting boxes are 14x15. Should be at least 14x14. One nest box to every 4 chickens.

 

[littlelemon]

My chickens fly over my 4' fence daily. It is chain-link, and they perch on the top and just hop on over to the other side. I cover the top when I plant my garden so they won't fly out. I use deer netting that I bought at Lowe's. It seems to deter the hawks as well, because we do have hawks and while I have seen them circling I have not had one try to come down through that netting.

 

[xrayman]

I have a 4ft fence on one of my runs, I clip one wing on each bird every spring and every fall. every once in awhile one will get out. Good thing my lab has a soft mouth, he'll usually return her to me unharmed