Containing our chickens to our yard?

[apmorris]

My husband and I have 18 free-range chickens that we let out of the barn every morning to forage. They spend the day roaming our property, but recently have started going to our neighbors property. Our neighbors have asked us to keep our chickens off of their property. We have a 500' property line that does not have any natural barriers, so it is no effort for the chickens to walk to our neighbors house and dig through their flower beds.
Other than building an 8' fence along the property line, is there anything that I can do to contain the chickens to our land? Is there anything that I can spread along the property line that chickens will not want to cross?
It is crucial that we maintain a good relationship with our neighbors.

Grand Ledge, Michigan

 

[Eggcellent]

I have seen people use electric fences but I have never personally used one

Can you maybe build a run for them and only let them out when you can supervise them? That is what I do. Keeps the chickens safer from predators and out of my neighbors yards.

 

[Akane]

If the property line is far enough from the coop and the chickens have enough space to roam then you don't need a tall fence. They won't go over a fence unless they have a reason. In a run they want more space, bugs, and grass so they frequently fly over the fence. In a larger area they try to avoid expending that energy unless something spooks them over the fence. We only have a 4' fence around the dog yard and once in a year and a half a young chicken has ended up over it. We also only have raspberry bushes along one property line and they've never gone past them. It just isn't worth it.

If you want to keep it trimmed electric fences will work but you have to keep the weeds down along the fenceline or it will ground out the fence. It's the cheapest, easiest, and least visible fence setup. You can also use fiberglass rods instead of heavy fence posts for something like that. If you don't want to trim weeds constantly you can put in your basic 4-5' field fencing but that will take more effort, time, and money. Odds are they won't go over either fence unless scared somehow and then it will only be 1 or 2 instead of the whole flock. You can also try to just distract and direct the chickens from the neighbors with something interesting the other direction from the coop and chasing them back every time they get near the property line. They are still likely to wander off occasionally though if you aren't there to watch them all day.

 

[apmorris]

Thanks for the replies. I think part of the reason the chickens wander to our neighbors is because they have several bird feeders in their yard, although it is the fervent digging and pooping by the chickens that upsets the neighbors.
When I think of an electric fence, I think of something to contain horses....and something that a chicken would walk under. Is there such a thing as a low electric fence for chickens?

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
I have 2 acres 1 of which is wooded lots of bugs weed seed and all. I do have a 4ft high fence that divides my lot with neighbors lot. Their wing is clipped and yes they can jump up and over. Neighbor watched my German Spitz girl get scared by dog barking and actually flew about 75ft in air over fence. Yesterday I found fav's and spitz in her yard (totally fenced in) Then we found another escape place, someone made a nice little hole at the bottom of another fence (plastic) Not dugg under either, just big enough to sqeeze under. I think the Fav's are respondsible they all seemed to know where it was one at time slid under. I could only stand the in total shock. Luckly my neighbor doesnt mind.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I did not know a chicken could handle a shock from a electric fence. I was going to suggest deer netting as it is not expensive. Or possibly a light weight movable tractor.

 

[Wifezilla]

It is pretty rude to let the chickens wander over to the neighbors. You need to come up with some kind of solution ASAP.

 

[possumqueen]

I agree with Walkingwolf that deer netting -- or even bird netting -- is a quick, cheap way to go.

But there is another way you can try.

There's a water scarecrow at scatmat.com that you can get. It's a motion detector that you hook up to a water hose. You could set one or two along your property line faced back towards your yard. When anything moves within 30 feet of the water scarecrow, it sets off a fan of water for about four seconds. It makes a hissing, clicking noise, and to any animal it's mysterious and scary. When the spray quits it resets itself and waits. . . .(cue jaws music)