Fence up and done, but they are just flying over it.

[junglebean]

With a lot of help, our fence is complete around the coop. But these spoiled chickens just want to fly right out. The rooster seems to be the leader. Anyway, from what I have seen, they fly up to the top of the wooden gate and then off of that. I have not seen them land on the wire fencing. My question is, what can I do to discourage them from landing on the gate? I have to walk through it, and it is 5 feet high. Should I just clip their wings? That seems like it could be quite a task.... We have just completed this fence due to the drooling coyotes stalking our yard.

 

[emys]

If you are that rural, I wouldn't want to clip wings. I'd sooner roof the run. You could use plain old bird netting with a couple of supports in the middle.

But clipping wings is easy once you catch them (so pull them one at a time off roost and into lighted area if you decide to clip)

 

[Danny39]

Hi there, I would either clip there wings or cover the top with a netting type material. Wing clipping is actually very easy and you should only have to do it a couple times a year. I am sure there are probably pictures on here or somewhere on the net on how to do it. Actually I usually only clip one side and that does the trick better then clipping both if they are a strong flier as that throws them off. Just remeber if they do get out of there yard or you let them out with clipped wings they will be more likely to become food for predators. Best of luck!

 

[JanetSmithery]

I think they might be targeting the gate as their exit point because they can see where that ends--it has a very clear upper edge. It's harder for them to see the edge of the wire. As you've noted, they fly, perch, and jump instead of fly over.

The quickest fix I can think of would be to tack a couple 1x1s or something to either edge of the door, maybe making a 1 foot extension and then tacking some chicken wire or a scrap of what you used for the fence on top of that. That way when they fly up to perch on the edge of the gate, they won't be able to. Maybe after a few weeks, they'll quit trying and you can remove the wire.

 

[GermanChick]

Quote:
I totally agree. That would be the quickest and easiest fix. If it doesn't work you can always try the netting to cover the run.

 

[butch]

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Thats what I did with my chickens and it works very well.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Put pigeon spikes on top of the gate until they decide it is not worth flying over. However, that fence will not keep a coyote out. Coyotes can scale a much taller fence.

 

[sydney13]

we built a gate for the run and each morning i would let out the chickens and they would fly right over. we had to cover the entire run with aviary netting

ive heard people on her say that they clipped the wings and the chickens were still able to fly out of the run

 

[booker81]

We got deer netting from Walmart, $9/roll and it took two to cover the 10'x30'ish run. We used zipties to connect to the run and to each other. Our main predators here are hawks, so that was the purpose

 

[darkmatter]

Take a gander at my BYC page for pics of my run fence; I built it 6 1/2' high by welding rebar to T-posts with an eyelet loop on the top. Strung #9 wire corner to corner post through the eyelets and suspended the chicken wire from the #9 wire. I used plastic coated fencing for the bottom section buried 6 inches for predator dig under control--plastic for corrosion control. The Guineas fly out every day for bug patrol and the chickens stay in (for the most part). I raise mutts with a dual purpose of eggs and meat, so any that are lightweight enough to fly out get removed from my gene pool by predator selection.