Escaping chickens, what to do?

[Splunky]

in my other post I described my flock, 6 Reds and 4 others, one being a rooster. They have been free range since they were about 10 wks old (they are about 24-ish now) but due to neighbors and poo all over the driveway and garage we decided they needed a paddock/enclosure. We started this 2 wks ago, it's perimeter is 150ft and they have bushes in there to take shade cover etc. We tried to make it similar to their fav places around the yard.
The problem? They keep escaping!!!
One was so flighty, just flew over countless times/day, so I clipped one wings flight feathers. This did not stop her so I did the other wing :-(
I soon learned that putting sticks through the holes of the wire so they stuck out the top of the fence deterred them enough to not fly over. Well, there is another flighty hen so did the same with her flight feathers.
The first hen we clipped keeps flying over our 4 ft fence!!! Now what??
Today the hens saw a dip in the fence so all 9 hens flew over one after another, leaving the rooster in a tizzy! We got the Reds back in easily but (see my first post about this) of course we couldn't catch the other ones.
We let them out for about 2 hrs to free range in the eve and then they go to the coop freely as night falls. It's fun to watch them go to the corner where the opening is, when it gets close!

What in the world do I do to keep them in?? I have already spent a lot of $$ on these girls, so I am trying tom keep it cheap.
What do you suggest?

 

[chfite]

Four feet is too short of a fence. Six feet works better. They will probably be less likely to fly out, once mature due to their weight.

When my chickens get excited and fly around, they easily get 3 feet off the ground. They likely could make 4 feet if they were really motivated.


My run has a 6 foot fence. They have not flown over it. Where they forage has a 4 foot fence, but is rather large area so I don't expect them to look up from eating to bother to fly over.

Chris

 

[Chicks Galore3]

My 20 weekers easily fly four feet. one flies five feet when freaked out. so i would think six feet would be needed to keep them in.

 

[devora]

Don't know what breeds you have, but they are young. That's why they can fly so well. Wait until they get old and fat. You won't have this same issue (unless you've got slight birds like Andalusians?)