Fence height for 50 x 100 foot grazing area

[baileybrood]

Hi. Well, I thought I had read as much as possible about coops and runs but..... turns out my "fort knox" wasn't tall enough. I had 3 - 8 week old chickens (Orp, Wellington, and BR) as well as 2 - 5 week old Australorps. They have a large coop that is enclosed in a 12 x 12 foot covered run. We fenced off a 50 x 100 foot area around this so they would have a safe place to graze. We put our fence 4 feet high as we thought these breeds were not known to fly too high. Well, newbie mistake. Young birds can fly as high as 4 feet Two of them must have flew over the fence and a dog found them. We're devastated over this....

Anyway, I am keeping them in the run until we get this fixed. If we increase the height to 6 feet, will that keep the young ones in? It's impossible to cover the top since it's 50 x 100 feet so I need to make sure I'm building the fence high enough.

Suggestions would sure be appreciated. My BR is not very happy about having to stay in the run....

 

[featherfooted]

Six foot should keep them in unless they get scared by something. You could also clip their wings so they can't fly.

 

[baileybrood]

I thought about clipping their wings but I read that it makes it much harder to get away from a predator. I've given them places to run and hide under in their fenced area - just in case. Do most people clip wings? Hmmm.... wonder if there is a poll out there on that.

 

[chfite]

I don't clip the wings. I have a 6 foot fence. No one flies over it from the ground. I did put a toy in the run. The rooster climbed on it and got excited and flew out of the run. Removed the toy. No more problems.

Chris

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I'd clip the wing until they get too heavy to fly over the 4' fence.


Unless you have bantams... In that case I'd just put up a 20' fence.

 

[baileybrood]

LOL Mississippi! Think I'll stay clear of the bantams

Looks like we'll put up a 6' fence this weekend. I'll feel better.

Chris - how did you make your gate with a 6' fence? Did you use 8' posts buried 2' deep? I thought about keeping my 4' posts and just increasing the height of the fencing. We have wood fence posts. From what I've read, you shouldn't put a top rail on anyway so that they don't have something to perch on.

Any suggestions anyone?

 

[BunchaBiddies]

A portion of our chicken yard is 6' wood fencing that encloses our backyard, and 5 foot wire fence that we closed off a 60 x 20 section of it with. We used 6' steel posts which are sunk about 18" into the ground. The chickens have never attempted a mutiny, even when they were little, and they don't try to roost on either of the fences. The gate is just a free end of the wire which we fold back and forth when entering or exiting the chicken yard, and it latches with eye hooks to the wood portion of the fence. It's interesting to me that they don't fly out, since I found one of them roosting about 15' up in the ivy that grows along one side of our house when they were free-ranging it...so I know they can certainly get the loft to escape if they took a notion to. If you are worried about it though, clipping the feathers is painless to them...just make sure you don't clip any blood feathers.

 

[1dude]

I'm not so worried about them getting out as something getting in. We have hawks that sit up in the tall pines around where I live.