flying chickies

[Pattid]

We have a chicken tractor and 6 chickens, young hens. We've always let them roam in the yard, but needed to be out keeping an eye on them because our lot is only about a half acre and they want to wander to the neighbor's yards. Yesterday my husband brought home some portable fencing to give them a bigger run and me the ability to let them out when I can't stay out there and watch them. It took about 30 minutes before some smartie chicken figured out that she could fly out over the fence. Is there any way we can stop them from flying out?

 

[chfite]

The height of the fence matters, of course. Four feet might be sufficient. Young hens can fly better than mature hens. When they are grown, most hens are too heavy to fly much. I have seen mine fly about 10 feet along the ground about 2 feet in the air.

Chris

 

[Hokum Coco]

My run is about 4 ft high. If you clip the feathers on one wing of each bird it will help.

Make sure there is no blood in the shaft of the feather before you clip or your bird may bleed to death.

On some birds you may even have to clip a few secondary flight feathers.

One wing throws the bird off balance and is more effective than trimming equal amounts off both wings.