Controlling Your Flock From Roaming Far

[One Of The Flock]

I would like to hear what the community has to say about their chicken escapists and methods to prevent that.
I myself have a fence, watch them, and make sure they have plenty space and stuff to do in my yard.

Thank you for your comments!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mine do as they please. So far none have gone any further than the fence line. If I see them over there I shag them back to the shed area using my dogs. We have 40 acres, my chickens don't need to be leaving.

 

[BantyChooks]

I don't worry about them. I have enough land that they naturally stay on my property.

They did make it all the way to my neighbour's driveway once but they don't care seeing as they have chooks themselves.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you let them out of the set up every day, they tend to travel a bit farther away. If you keep them penned up most of the time, when you do let them out, they tend to stay close to the set up.

 

[aart]

I have a large mesh covered run....too many preds here.

 

[Higgshappychickens]

I would like to hear what the community has to say about their chicken escapists and methods to prevent that.
I myself have a fence, watch them, and make sure they have plenty space and stuff to do in my yard.

Thank you for your comments!

Neighbors on both sides of me have dogs so I let them out while I'm home and we hang out. They are quite attached to me, but the 2 younger gals do their best to sneak over to one of the neighbors for a bird feeder snack.

 

[aquabum]

I only have a one acre lot. For the first couple of times that I would let them out, I would simply keep them in the backyard. No front fence! Rest is fenced! That will soon be fixed. But they simply learned that if they didn't want to be brought back to the backyard with a broom, they stayed in the backyard. Now it's been about 4 - 5 months of letting them out in the afternoons and well, they stick in the backyard!

 

[centrarchid]

Cover patches and placement of feeding stations. There is an interaction between the two.

 

[Folly's place]

My coop is only about fifty feet from the west lot line, and it's fenced there. Occasionally a bird will go there, and have to be chased home. There's plenty of room for them to explore everywhere else. I also don't have any of the breeds noted for being very wide ranging, like Sumatras.
Mary

 

[Beer can]

My birds stay pretty close, three acres with a tree line part way around it, group of trees by our pond. Past that is a neighbor on one side and a 80 acre alfalfa/clover field behind and more on the other side of neighbor. The Jersey giants I have travel the farthest about halfway into the field. Any predators have to pretty much enter open field and are seen. I also have dogs, that helps. I've lost very few birds to predators, occasional hawk and one to a fox last summer. Come fall though I cull down to small breeding groups and don't take any chances so they get confined to large fenced runs. Besides that usually until spring there is too much snow for them to wander about anyway.