Fence hopping and what to do about it

[Beekissed]

We are new at this, our little flock is around 5 months old, Buff Orps, Speckled Sussex and Easter Eggers.

Our property is surrounded by woods, bordering a state forest. We have 4' tall fencing, the fenced-in space being around 1.5 acres. Recently we started giving the chickens the run of it, which was always the plan -- we really want them to be able to range the yard.

Today, they decided it's a super cool idea to fly up and perch on this one section of fence. They are not known as "flighty" breeds or anything and I guess I was hoping it just wouldn't occur to them to try this (please don't make fun of me too much.) Of course somebody ended up on the wrong side of the fence, in the heavy underbrush over there, and couldn't figure out how to get back. Then my husband and son got to crash around on the far side of the fence catching the panicky hen while I worked to keep her sisters from jumping back up onto the fence rail, and meanwhile our young rooster was running up and down the fence line calling the stray. And then after we had finally rounded everybody up for the evening (rooster very agitated, but to his credit still docile with us,) we got to pick the inevitable ticks off of husband and son and feed them to the chickens as a bedtime snack.

We don't particularly want to do that every day, and we're talking about our options for how to deal with it. Wing clipping? Attaching something along the top of the fence to extend it upward a little? Let them just figure it out on their own (would they ever? without getting eaten by a coyote or whatever first?) Condition them to stay away from the fence, or at least that section of it? What have other people done, and how did it work out?

Our parameters:
*We would like to continue letting them roam the yard
*We can't afford to replace the entire fence right now
*Our chickens are spoiled pets and we would be sad to lose one
*We are OK with an "ugly but functional" solution

Clipping one wing won't deter them....I've done that and seen them mount up to 5 ft. roosts afterwards. And extending the fence itself just to make it higher will not work either....chickens can roost in the trees and rafters of barns.

Your best solution is to extend the top of your fencing with deer/bird netting so that no area on top of the fence has a sturdy structure to hop up to...that includes gates. Even a few strands of tightly strung, heavy duty fishing line or thin gauge wire at 4 & 8 in. above the fenceline will help but I've found the netting to be more effective.

I've currently got the wire netting extended above my garden fencing for the same reason and not a bird~even with a bench next to the fence from which to launch~has made it over that fence.

The way I extended it past the fence posts themselves was to attach a spiked stake to the posts and stapled the fencing to these spikes.

 

[Mrs. K]

The other big advantage of over the top fencing is it deters predators too.

 

[centrarchid]

The electrified poultry netting will in many instances stop escapement of low flight capacity breeds. I have American Dominiques the 48" high netting stops very well. The netting is effective against a broader range of ground predators and is easy to deploy and redeploy. You can also get it in a range of colors which can be important when trying not to create an eyesore. I use high tensile hotwire and electrified poultry netting in my setting. It is very important be able to make adjustments in containment systems without working too hard.

Check the following online suppliers.

http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_product.php

https://www.premier1supplies.com/poultry/fencing.php

 

[MorganC]

Wing clipping is by far the oldest and cheapest method. Simplest too.
But it's whatever you are most comfortable with.

 

[AllynTal]

OK... what would you do?

Your forum name is Pine Barrens, so I don't even have to look at your location to know where you are. I was born and raised in rural Burlington County and all of south Jersey was my stomping ground for the first 38 years of my life. . .so hello from a hometown gal.

Well, not knowing the exact situation there on your property, I'd have to say extending the fence up would be my first try. Free ranging birds has risks, but I prefer it to keeping them in a run. I know a lot of folks clip wings, and each of us has to manage our flocks as best we can; but I don't do it because running flight (or fly-running, depending on if there's more running or flapping involved) is their best means of escaping a predator. Clipping their wings is like declawing a cat and then letting it loose outside to fend for itself. You take away one of the few defenses it has to get away from a predator.

Extending the fence up doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. Extending a few poles higher than the fence and then running clothesline from pole to pole above the fence can, to a chicken's eye, make the fence too tall to try to get over. Run two or three rows of clothesline about 4 or 6 inches apart can add a foot or more to the height of the fence.

A lot of folks like electric fencing, but I've never used it so I can't speak to or against it. If you decide to clip wings, that is absolutely your decision; I just wanted to point out that clipping their wings contradicts one of the points you said were important to you.

 

[pinebarrens]

Thanks everyone for the variety of perspectives and opinions, it's good stuff.

We will spend a little more time deciding on a long-term fix for us. I want to do a little bit of research and price some things out. There is something to be said for an electric fence as a predator deterrent in addition to keeping our animals inside, but we will need to look into it more as we have never used that either. If we decide in the end to clip wings, we can still do that, but once it's done it can't be undone til they molt, so we won't jump too quickly.

In the meantime, our short-term solution: we had a couple of rolls of chicken wire knocking around in the shed. We nailed some wooden stakes onto the top of the fence posts near the area of fence they were jumping onto, and stapled the chicken wire to those. That extended the top of the fence to over 6' total height and now the top of it is no good for perching on. It definitely won't work forever, since if they walk 100 feet they will reach the end of the chicken wire we had handy. But I'm betting it will keep them inside for a day or two, and buy us time until we figure out what we're doing here, since it's the only place in the yard where they really hang out right by the fence at this point. It took us half an hour and we didn't have to buy anything new, so even if it doesn't work at all, it won't be a terrible tragedy.

 

[pinebarrens]

Your forum name is Pine Barrens, so I don't even have to look at your location to know where you are. I was born and raised in rural Burlington County and all of south Jersey was my stomping ground for the first 38 years of my life. . .so hello from a hometown gal.

Well, not knowing the exact situation there on your property, I'd have to say extending the fence up would be my first try. Free ranging birds has risks, but I prefer it to keeping them in a run. I know a lot of folks clip wings, and each of us has to manage our flocks as best we can; but I don't do it because running flight (or fly-running, depending on if there's more running or flapping involved) is their best means of escaping a predator. Clipping their wings is like declawing a cat and then letting it loose outside to fend for itself. You take away one of the few defenses it has to get away from a predator.

Extending the fence up doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. Extending a few poles higher than the fence and then running clothesline from pole to pole above the fence can, to a chicken's eye, make the fence too tall to try to get over. Run two or three rows of clothesline about 4 or 6 inches apart can add a foot or more to the height of the fence.

A lot of folks like electric fencing, but I've never used it so I can't speak to or against it. If you decide to clip wings, that is absolutely your decision; I just wanted to point out that clipping their wings contradicts one of the points you said were important to you.

 

[alibabba]

Hi,

I live rural, so some night predator pressure ( have had losses) Not much during the day. My back yard is fenced with post and rail and heavy guage 2x4 wire.

I used electric fence strands on their pen (not poultry net, to spensive)

I let them range the fenced portion daily.

But one day they all decided that the neighbors grass was greener. I do not need to upset neighbors.

I ended up clipping wings. It was really easy. I did not clip the roosters at all.
Some of them needed both clipped!!! because they could still hop up on the 4ft fence. I notice now that some might need to be clipped again, but they gave up right away and are out of the habit of flying out now

In my case the 1/4 acre back yard has alot of cover. Trees, and shrubs and extra wire fence set up into moveable round pens , coop they can get under... so hawks have a really hard time getting in. And the roos give plenty of warning. I've witnessed it multiple times.

BOL

 

[sawilliams]

Pinebarrens, personally I would consider both my fence and wing clipping. Though wing clipping won't stop them from a 4 ft jump it can prevent them from jumping a 6 ft fence. I dont think electric fencing is necessary unless you have fully free ranged chickens that you can't clip their wings or birds that can still jump the fence even with clipped wings. But all in all I guess it depends on time and cost

 

[Chilly Lizard]

We had a fence hopper to! She would go up on her coop & then onto our six foot fence. We had to put a netting on the pen & thinking about clipping for when their ranging, thanks for all the input!